ZAPU president Sibangilizwe Nkomo has scoffed at the view that the party has no supporters and is stuck in the past.
Nkomo, who is a son to the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo, made the comments at an event held to celebrate the party’s 60th anniversary, recently.
ZAPU was launched on 17 December 1961 under the late VP Nkomo and is the oldest political party in Zimbabwe.
The party was revived in recent years after some members grew disillusioned with the Unity Accord signed with ZANU in 1987 which resulted in the merging of the two parties. said Nkomo:
There is no doubt that there is no party with a past as glorious as that of ZAPU.
We have a rich history and that history is a serious heritage for our people.
Some will tell us that we are stuck in the past when we tell the story of ZAPU.
It is not that we are stuck, we cannot afford to be.
Nkomo asserted that ZAPU would continue celebrating its past without shame. He said:
Had they (ZANU PF) not been jealous, they would not have confiscated our archives.
They would not have killed the makers of that history in genocide. They would not be claiming the exploits of our fathers.
They would not be embellishing their own history and they would not use the State media to tell a one-sided story of Zimbabwe.
In the 1980s, the Government confiscated properties and records belonging to ZIPRA, the military wing of ZAPU, after accusing the party of plotting an insurrection.