Five former members of the Zimbabwe People’s Union (ZPU) in Matabeleland South, known as the “Mat South Five”, have expressed frustration over the court’s lengthy delay in ruling on their case challenging the legality of Sibangilezwe Nkomo’s candidacy for ZPU presidency.
The group was expelled in November 2022 after opposing Nkomo’s election in 2021. They are also seeking to re-establish the party to revive it, which they claim is deteriorating under Nkomo’s leadership.
The five from the MAT South party – Gideon Dlamini, Ishim Nkala, Matthew Sibanda, Ernest Ndlovu and Mildred Mkandla – were senior party members who had served the Zimbabwe People’s Party at various provincial and national levels since 2011.
They allege that Nkomo, the son of ZAPU’s founding leader, Joshua Nkomo, used his father’s legacy to secure votes at the 2021 congress despite his lack of qualifications.
The group also expressed concerns about alleged irregularities in Nkomo’s election, noting that he received 121 votes, despite only 105 delegates being registered.
Their efforts to address their grievances within the party were rejected, leading to their expulsion and a court appeal in June 2023.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Makandla, the party’s former national secretary for education and training, stressed the need for a court decision to determine their future in the party, while The urgent need to resolve the issue either to revive the People’s Democratic Party in Zapu or to pursue other political paths.
“After being expelled from the party, we still wanted to continue and get our case heard. On March 12, 2024, we went to the Supreme Court, hoping to get a ruling within a few days or a month, but as of September 25, 2024, we have not heard anything,” Mkandla said.
She added that the court ruling will determine their next steps, saying: “People are asking a lot of questions based on the court ruling, whether we move forward or backward depends on this ruling.”
“So we said maybe the only thing we can do now is to hold a press conference and explain to people who we are coming from where we are going and why we are angry,” Mkandla added.
Makandla added that the group also wrote a letter to the High Court Registrar this year, but were told that such correspondence should be done through their lawyers.
“We were told that we should not write directly to the registrar. Our lawyers wrote the letter and when the response came, the court officials said they had not heard anything but would raise the ruling when it came, if any, and that made us really angry,” he said, expressing his anger at the court’s lack of a clear answer.
“The court said it would lift the ruling ‘if any’, and that made us very angry. How can they say ‘if any’? There is a possibility that there will be no ruling at all.”
She criticised Nkomo’s leadership, claiming that ZAPU was deteriorating under his leadership. “At the same time, Sibangilezwe continues to work, and we have worked hard in this party. It is unfortunate to see him die due to incompetence,” she said.
Sibanda, the former president of Matabeleland South, echoed Mkandla’s concerns, pointing to a lack of party activity and structures under Nkomo’s leadership.
“This is why SAPU is dying. No party can function without activities or structures everywhere. SAPU members are crying out for injustice, and we want to revive these structures,” he said.
Both Mkandla and Sibanda Nkomo were criticised for exploiting their father’s legacy.
“Sibangilizwe used his father’s name to garner support. When we said he was not qualified, other people in the party claimed he was qualified while still in his mother’s womb,” Mkandla alleged.
Zambia People’s Union Secretary General Mthulisi Hanana has responded to the allegations made by the five by Matt South, admitting that they were senior Zambia People’s Union leaders who helped draft the party’s constitution and were unhappy that the same constitution was being applied to them.
“When the party’s orientations did not match their ambitions, they opposed the very principles they once stood for. The Congress Party is supreme, and their resentment does not change that. They know they are being expelled because they are the ones who wrote the constitution that was applied to them and their expulsion is not in question,” Hanana said.
Hanana expressed the party’s readiness to wait for the court’s ruling, adding that ZAPU is a revolutionary party that realizes that there are internal political differences.
“We have not brought in former colleagues to conduct any form of discussion, but rather we are participating through lawyers and the courts. And until the court is concluded, we will continue to participate in this way,” he said.
The Zambian Federation’s secretary general also criticised the group’s actions, saying: “They lack the moral and intellectual capacity to determine who is competent within the Zambian Federation.”
“The way they handled this issue shows their lack of critical thinking and political judgment,” Hanana said.
