Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU); whether it is still active as an opposition party, ethnic affiliation; treatment of members and supporters by the Zimbabwean government; whether the situation in Bulawayo is different from elsewhere in Zimbabwe
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 April 1999 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | ZWE31507.E |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU); whether it is still active as an opposition party, ethnic affiliation; treatment of members and supporters by the Zimbabwean government; whether the situation in Bulawayo is different from elsewhere in Zimbabwe, 1 April 1999, ZWE31507.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aad90.html [accessed 30 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
For information regarding the founding of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), its conflicts with Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) between 1980 and 1985 and the eventual merger of the two parties in 1987 to form the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), please consult Political Parties of Africa and the Middle East: A Reference Guide (1993), available at Regional Documentation Centres. Since April 1988, the founder of ZAPU, Joshua Nkomo, has been a Vice President in Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF administration (ibid., 320). ZAPU support has traditionally been drawn from the province of Matabeleland, in which Bulawayo is the largest city; the traditional region of the Ndebele minority (World Directory of Minorities 1997, 530; Minahan 1996, 358).
With the merger of ZAPU and ZANU in 1987, ZAPU officially ceased to exist (Political Parties of Africa and the Middle East, 323). However, according to media reports, the Mugabe government's recent political and economic troubles and the government's failure to respond to the results of an investigation into widespread human rights abuses during the ZANU-ZAPU conflict in Matabeleland in the early 1980s have led to calls for the revival of ZAPU (Africa News 23 Mar. 1999; ibid. 6 Apr. 1999; ibid. 25 Dec. 1998; SAPA 25 Apr. 1998; Financial Mail 22 Jan. 1999). According to Africa Confidential, ZAPU founder and current ZANU-PF Vice President Joshua Nkomo is poised to retire:
Nobody is clear how much say Joshua Nkomo has in picking his successor and his exit could prompt far reaching shifts, as he personally negotiated with Mugabe the unity accord that brought his Zimbabwe African People's Union into alliance with ZANU. Life is hard in Matabeleland and some former ZAPU members now demand that the unity accord be severed or reviewed. No serious candidate for Ndebele leadership can afford to ignore such views (Dec. 1998, 3).
A party using the name ZAPU 2000 is reported to be the result of this revival (Africa News 6 Apr. 1999; The Economist 3 Apr. 1999, 38; Xinhua 26 Feb. 1999). At a rally in February 1999, President Mugabe accused ZAPU 2000 of "causing disunity among the Ndebele" (Xinhua 26 Feb. 1999). According to a December 1998 report, the founders of ZAPU 2000 were engaged in a dispute concerning the right to the ZAPU name (Africa News 25 Dec. 1998).
No information on the treatment of members and supporters of ZAPU 2000 by the Zimbabwean government could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Africa Confidential. 4 December 1998. Vol. 39, No. 24. "Fighting Rebels at Home and Abroad."
Africa News. 6 April 1999. "Zimbabwe News Roundup." (NEXIS)
_____. 23 March 1999. Charles Rukuni. "ZCTU Rocks the Political Scene." (NEXIS)
_____. 25 December 1998. Ex-ZAPU Leaders Told to Leave Members Alone." (NEXIS)
The Economist. 3 April 1999. "Apparitions in Zimbabwe."
Financial Mail (Internet version) [Johannesburg, in English]. 22 January 1999. Trevor Ncube. "Mugabe Running Out of Dance Partners." (FBIS-AFR-99-020 22 Jan. 1999/WNC)
Minahan, James. 1996. Nations Without States: A Historical Dictionary Of Contemporary National Movements. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Political Parties of Africa and the Middle East: A Reference Guide. 1993. Edited by Roger East and Tanya Joseph. London: Longman.
SAPA [Johannesburg, in English]. 25 April 1998. "Government's Land Policy Said to Strengthen Ethnic Group." (FBIS-AFR-98-115 25 Apr. 1998/WNC)
World Directory of Minorities. 1997. Harlow, Essex: Longman Group UK.
Xinhua. 26 February 1999. "No Going Back on Land Issue: Zimbabwean President." (NEXIS)
Additional Sources Consulted
Africa Confidential [London]. 1998 -1999
Africa Research Bulletin [London]. 1998 -1999
Africa South of the Sahara 1998. 1998. 27th Ed. London: Europa Publications.
Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 1996. 13th ed. Edited by Barbara F. Grimes. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics
Resource Centre country file on Zimbabwe. 1998 -1999
Resource Centre Amnesty International file on Zimbabwe. 1998 -1999
Electronic sources: IRB databases, Internet, LEXIS/NEXIS, REFWORLD, WNC.
