Former ZANU PF member and Home Affairs Minister Dumiso Dabengwa has been unanimously endorsed as ZAPU President for the next five years.
Dabengwa's nomination was endorsed by the party's fourteen provinces over the weekend, at the party's congress in Bulawayo. The congress held at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair grounds was the first since ZAPU merged with ZANU PF in 1987 to end atrocities committed by the 5th Brigade in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces
But ZAPU pulled out of the Unity Accord two years ago accusing ZANU PF of refusing to fully implement the agreement, as its members continued to be sidelined when it came to senior appointments in the united party. The same situation is now being faced by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party, who are partners in the current coalition government. Many critics have said the current unity accord is on the same path as the ZAPU, ZANU PF deal.
The three-day ZAPU congress also adopted amendments to it's founding constitution, which says that Dabengwa will have to relinquish his party post if he is elected president of the country.
Methuseli Moyo, the ZAPU spokesperson said. "We are ready for the elections and we believe we now have a candidate who is ready to go to State House with or without a new constitution."
Meanwhile a legal bid by a group of disgruntled members to stop the congress, failed after the High Court ruled that the application was not urgent. The applicants wanted Dabengwa barred from using the name ZAPU and the party's symbol of a charging bull.
However Justice Nicholas Ndou dismissed the application, ruling that the applicants had known about the pending congress six months ago.
"There is no urgency at all in the application and in any case the confusion which might arise from the national congress can be cleared by a public statement from the applicant," the judge said
