ZAPU spearheaded the armed struggle for 18 years and remained the leading political force in advancing the Zimbabwean struggle for the right of self determination and national independence.
After the Lancaster House conference which led to the 1980 first democratic elections, ZAPU emerged as the main and formidable opposition party to ZANU PF. In the early 1980’s the ZANU (PF) government carried out a genocidal crusade against ZAPU members. The genocidal crusade eventually forced ZAPU to sign the Unity Accord of 1987 that sought to stop the massacre of its members. Even then, the ZANU (PF) government continued to violate human rights, such as the right to work and to an adequate standard of living including the right to freedom of speech.
Continued violation of people’s rights, marginalisation of ZAPU leaders in government and failure to implement any of the ZAPU policies that had been put forward to improve the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans led ZAPU to withdraw from the Unity Accord, in 2009.
Ideological Concept of ZAPU
The ideology of ZAPU is based on the concept of individual rights to survival, social justice, human well-being and equality in terms of rights and responsibilities. Human rightsism as an ideology is the compass that will guide the ZAPU government and the people of Zimbabwe, who are the owners of the state, in their mission of developing a democratic state; a state that respects, promotes and respects human rights without distinction of any kind.
The violation of the principle of equal rights, as well as the rights to security and peace by the ZANU (PF) government has led to the racial and ethnic polarization of the Zimbabwean society. The violation of the rights to work and to an adequate standard of living has made about 90 percent of the population to live in poverty. It is estimated that 4.5 million Zimbabweans presently live in foreign countries to escape poverty at home. ZAPU is committed to developing a fair and democratic state together with the people of Zimbabwe.
Development of a Democratic State
A ZAPU government will use development planning as an instrument of managing the process of creating a fair and democratic state. The programme for the development of the state shall include political democratisation, economic and social development, as well as the obligations of the government and citizens.
Political Democratization
ZAPU advocates for a constitution that has the founding principles of a democratic state, which includes the inherent dignity and worth of a human person; supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law; respect, promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms; citizens as the supreme authority of the state; principle of equal rights; devolution of political power to the provinces; peace and national unity; multiparty system of governance and regular, free and fair elections based on adult suffrage.
Economic and Social Development Programme
ZAPU's key strategies for the economic and social development programme include human resources development; technological development; industrialisation of the economy; development of domestic private sector; rural development; development of tourism and mining sectors.
ZAPU will implement sustainable development policies which cover economic, human, environmental and technological development dimensions.
Obligations of the ZAPU Government and its Citizens
The ZAPU government will have an obligation to discharge the responsibilities of the state in accordance with the constitution, respecting, promoting and protecting human rights, without distinction of any kind, such as ethnicity, race language, religion, sex, political or other opinion, etc; to formulate policies and enact laws which will enable citizens to discharge their responsibility of developing a democratic state.
Every citizen and resident of Zimbabwe shall participate in the development of a democratic state for the realisation of his/her rights and shall respect, promote and defend human rights.
