ZAPU has slammed an opinion piece written by Zanu PF Secretary-General, Dr Obert Moses Mpofu, in which he claimed the ruling party is the ‘only viable’ political entity in Zimbabwe that has outlived other parties, saying such ‘deceptive’ statements had to be challenged.
In an opinion piece titled, ‘Opposition life short, nasty and brutish,’ published on Sunday by a weekly state controlled newspaper, Dr Mpofu claimed that “chaos, indiscipline and lust for power have swallowed many opposition parties in this country.”
According to the Zanu PF secretary general, the ruling party is “the party that represents what it truly means to be Zimbabweand and that “Indeed, being Zanu PF is being Zimbabwean and being Zimbabwean is being Zanu PF.”
In reaction to that opinion piece, ZAPU National Spokesperson Richard Gandari stated there is no democratic state in the world in which membership in one political party or another is synonymous with citizenship.
“If Dr Mpofu genuinely believes his big lie, he genuinely needs psychiatric help, to save him from his own unbridled imagination,” he said.
Gandari noted that ZAPU would have ignored Dr Mpofu’s “blatant lies” but his assertions posed “a socio-political hazard if left unchallenged.”
“By claiming that ‘Zanu PF has outlived every other political outfit that has ever tried to deceive the masses,’ Dr Mpofu was distorting the historical fact that his Zanu was formed in 1963, well after ZAPU, the original revolutionary party formed in 1961,” said the ZAPU national spokesperson.
“Furthermore, to set the record straight, being an opposition party does not amount to deceiving the masses. There is nothing illegal nor subversive in seeking regime change in a democratic state.
The ZAPU national spokesperson said as an opposition party, ZAPU sought to unseat Zanu PF from power through constitutional means.
“We remain unapologetic and clear about our regime change agenda. We believe that multi-party democracy is a contestation of ideas,” Gandari said.
“Only Zanu PF, through its zealots like Dr Mpofu, regards regime change as something illegal, unpatriotic and effectively treasonous.”
Gandari said a ZAPU-led government would preserve the plurality and diversity of political parties and not shut them down.
“Any repressive regime that does not see the need for opposition parties is not worthy to claim any relationship with democracy as a system of governance,” he said.
“In spite of his bigotry, Dr Mpofu knows for a fact that his party owes its continued existence to temporary unions with the same opposition parties it disparages today.”
To qualify his statements that Zanu PF survived on destroying the opposition parties, Gandari said between 1987 and 2008, “Zanu was sanitised by our PF ZAPU in a fraudulent Unity Accord.”
“When ZAPU pulled out of the Unity Accord in 2008, Zanu PF went haywire in an orgy of violence but could only go it alone for a year. By September 2009, Zanu PF had staggered into the Global Political Agreement (GPA) mediated by South Africa’s former President Thabo Mbeki,” said the ZAPU national spokesperson.
He further stated that Zanu PF was given a lifeline out of the GPA that ushered in the Government of National Unity of 2009 to 2013.
“ Zanu PF was given a lifeline through partnering with the MDC-T led by (the late Morgan) Tsvangirai and MDC-M led by (Professor Arthur) Mutambara,” Gandari said, adding that from 2018 to this day, Zanu PF continues to work with the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD), an outfit made up of various opposition parties.
“Truth be told, Dr Mpofu’s false narrative is an attempt to deceive the masses! It is sad that in Zanu PF, a whole Secretary-General has to sing for his supper to maintain his place at the feeding trough.”
Gandari said ZAPU is forced to drift from contempt to pity, considering “the low levels to which Dr Mpofu has been forced to stoop.”
“Every right-thinking Zimbabwean should disregard Dr Mpofu’s opinion piece with either contempt or pity, for it is a false statement issued by a man held hostage by a draconian political system he cannot escape from,” said the ZAPU national spokesperson.
“At the height of his hallucinations, Dr Mpofu claims that, “It cannot be denied that Zanu PF exists in perpetuity. No, Dr Mpofu, that is a lie! Zimbabwe is a country; Zanu PF is a mere political party. One day Zanu PF will be out of power but Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans shall remain.”
