via MDC official backs Zapu properties fight January 3, 2014 by Silas Nkala NewsDay
WAR VETERAN and MDC Matabeleland South provincial chairperson Pilate Ndebele has waded into the ex-Zipra property saga saying Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa must “shut up” because he lacked understanding of the history of Zapu and its military wing Zipra.
Ndebele said the annexed ex-Zipra combatants’ properties that Mutasa claimed now belonged to Zanu PF were bought through contributions of individual Zapu and ex-Zipra members and Zanu PF had no legal right to deprive them of their belongings.
“Mutasa appears to be ignorant of Zapu and Zipra’s history and it is better for him to shut up and let people like (current Zapu leader) Dumiso Dabengwa comment about those properties,” said Ndebele.
“We paid money to buy those properties and they are our properties as ex-Zipra members collectively. Even those bought by Zapu, the money came from members who contributed and they must be returned.”
Mutasa had said that it was not possible for Zapu properties to be returned because there were still former Zapu members such as current Zanu PF national chairperson Simon Khaya Moyo still upholding the 1987 Unity Accord.
Zapu, which was then led by the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo, was merged into Zanu PF under the Unity Accord and Mutasa said as a result, anything that belonged to the veteran nationalist’s party was now property of the ruling party.
The war of words was ignited by President Robert Mugabe’s December 22 plea for those who deserted him to rejoin Zanu PF.
Following Mugabe’s appeals, Zapu issued a statement declining to reunite with Zanu PF citing failure by the ruling party to honour the Unity Accord promises such as the return of Zapu and Zipra properties as well as its continued refusal to publicly apologise for perpetrating the Gukurahundi massacres which resulted in the deaths of more than 20 000 civilians in Matabeleland and some parts of the Midlands.
Ndebele, said Khaya Moyo, who Mutasa refers to, had no clue about how Zipra acquired the properties.
“If you ask him about these issues he will refer you to Dabengwa. Dabengwa, who was part of the Zipra high command, knows all about Zapu and Zipra properties.
He is the only person now who can talk authoritatively about those properties. Mutasa or Khaya Moyo know nothing. What they can only talk about is the so-called Unity Accord,period.”
COMMENTS
Madoda continue to do what you do. Glass castle will be back to Zipra combatants. But 33 years on will any of these hero’s descendants or the boys themselves see this day. Sell outs like Jabulani “fake war vet” have already reaped.
Dai makaramba muchirova chimurenga na Gwasela ikozvino mungadai makati sunungurawo kana kuti makatopera ne gukurahundi! Manje makada kukara neku medzwa! Chero dai makaitawo unity government Zapu ingadai isina kuparara! But kana vanhu varambana mumwe nemumwe anobva netwake saka piwI twenyu and interet! You have to share even zvacho zvikunzi ndezve Zanu coz muchato wakapera!
I am sure those who were Zapu or Zipra Commanders have a register
of names who contributed toward the purchase of the so called properties. If so, then I am sure they can now approach those in Zanu (PF) and demand their share especially if they are nolonger members of a united ZANU(PF)AND(PF)ZAPU party. Why would Mutasa and Khaya Moyo deny them their share ? Otherwise I smell a rat !!
THIEVES DONT VOLUNTARILY RETURN STOLEN PROPERTY!
This is where God’s Justice comes in, how can Mutasa not struggle with Zapu when he was at the forefront of the Ndebele extermination through the Gukurahundi? God’s Justice is not subject to the corrupt judiciary systems of the world. This is God’s season to vindicate on behalf of the oppressed. Justice belongs to Him and He has the scales of Justice…Revelation 6:5. Did king Nebuchadnezzar struggle with God when judgment visited him? Did he not end up in the wild feasting on grass like a beast? Has God changed since the atrocities the Gukurahundi committed? Was He blind to the looting of Matabeleland and Zapu properties? What about the blood that was shed over the diamonds in Mashonaland? What about the Murambatswina demolition that left thousands homeless? Watch how He visits them. Is there anything too hard for God? They will all know that there is a God in Israel.