The Sunday Mail
TUESDAY marks 33 years since the signing of the Unity Accord between two revolutionary movements, Zanu and PF Zapu. The agreement brought to an end civil disturbances in parts of Matabeleland and Midlands provinces, and united the two parties under ZANU PF. In a conversation with our Gender and Community Editor Fatima Bulla-Musakwa, Zimbabwe’s first Justice Minister, Professor Simbi Mubako — who was Minister of Home Affairs at the time the historically momentous agreement was signed — looked back at events leading up to the day.
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Q: Professor Mubako, could you take us back to the time leading up to the signing of the Unity Accord and tell us what was happening behind the scenes?
A: The Unity Accord was an agreement between two liberation parties — Zanu, which was the governing party, and PF Zapu, which was in opposition — and was concluded in 1987. It was preceded by a bit of history, which needs to be restated a bit.
The two parties fought the liberation war separately, but in a way were united under the banner of the Patriotic Front. As such, they negotiated for Independence at Lancaster House together.
Having signed that agreement, the next stage was elections.
The two parties contested separately and it was Zanu under Robert Mugabe which won the elections.
He wanted a Government of National Unity which would bring the Patriotic Front together again and so he decided to invite Zapu, which was led by Dr Joshua Nkomo, who agreed after some hesitation. Mugabe also wanted to have whites in his Government, so he invited the white section of the country. Ian Smith himself did not go into Government, although he was a Member of Parliament, but some members of his party joined.
Q: So, if everything was sailing this smoothly, what went wrong?
A: For the first year, the coalition worked very well. We produced a lot of good works, we renamed the country, the streets and some towns like Masvingo, Mutare and so on.
But there were problems taking place within the armed forces.
There was disgruntlement, particularly from what used to be Zipra.
They felt that they were not being integrated into the army as fast as they had expected.
They felt that the Zanla side was being favoured. That caused a lot of problems and eventually we had the dissident problem in Matabeleland and Midlands.
The problem really escalated into a civil war, in essence, but it was limited to those provinces. Because of those problems, the coalition broke up, leading to Dr Nkomo and his colleagues being expelled from Government.
Nevertheless, there were disturbances for some years; a lot of unsavoury things happened, killings in Matabeleland and Midlands. But, in the end, there was a call for another reconciliation between the parties because it was felt that the situation should not be allowed to continue.
Q: Who were the leading voices in calling for reconciliation?
A: The call came from both the Zanu and PF Zapu side. There were people who played go-between, as it were.
President Banana was instrumental in bringing the two to talk peace again, because it was felt that the country was bleeding. While President Banana was a Zanu-appointed President, the fact that he was from Matabeleland helped.
He could talk to both sides fairly freely.
There were others from the Zapu side, including the late Cephas Msipa, who was one of the emissaries who worked with President Banana to talk to Dr Nkomo and Prime Minister Mugabe. The negotiations went on for two to three years until it was agreed in 1987 that Zapu and Zanu should unite, and the agreement was then signed by the two parties.
Q: What were the key terms of this accord?
A: It was agreed that the two parties be united into one party called ZANU PF.
In other words, Zapu was dead. All the Zapu leaders were to be integrated into a new party called ZANU PF. The leaders of Zapu who had been expelled during the disturbances were to be readmitted into Government again.
President Mugabe remained as President while Dr Joshua Nkomo and Dr Simon Muzenda were his vice presidents.
Since then we only have one party, ZANU PF, and that was the essence of the Unity Accord. While on paper the agreement was uniting the two parties, in essence it meant unity of the entire nation.
This was so because once these two big parties were united, then virtually the whole nation was united.
That is why we celebrate the date — December 22 — as Unity Day. It signifies not just unity of the parties but unity of the whole nation. It is now 33 years since the signing and we have had no disturbances, and there has been no war to talk about. So, the Unity Accord ushered a period of peace; the peace we are now enjoying.
It was through the wisdom of these great leaders, who agreed to bury their differences and signed the Unity Accord, that we are living together as one nation.
Q: Which moments would you say were the most memorable leading up to the signing of the Unity Accord?
SM: There were many. I was in Cabinet at that time, but I was not involved in the actual negotiations. We would be briefed on what the leaders had agreed on and what the difficulties were.
During the period of disturbances, a lot of groups in Matabeleland were calling on the Prime Minister (Robert Mugabe) to visit and hear their grievances.
The Prime Minister went to Bulawayo a number of times and met groups which told him of the difficulties the people in the areas where the army was operating were facing. I was Home Affairs Minister, which means I was in charge of the police and, therefore, law and order.
There were real disturbances and the people were no longer living as one.
When Dr Nkomo agreed to the accord, he called on the dissidents to stop the fighting and lay down the arms, and they did.
Those who did not obey left the country for South Africa and overseas.
In other words, people stopped going into the bush and coming to raid villages and Government installations.
The army was also removed from there and things went quiet almost immediately.
It took long to conclude the agreement because Zapu did not want the name of the new party to be ZANU PF, because it then appeared like they had been swallowed.
On the Zanu side, I know that President Mugabe insisted on that.
He did not want a situation where there would be a protracted fight over the name, so he insisted that since Zanu had won the elections, it had the right to name the new party. And that was eventually agreed on. There was also an objection to the party symbol — the cock.
Some Zapu people said it should come down from the party headquarters, but again eventually it was agreed to leave it there.
Q: What did these symbols signify?
SM: During the elections in 1980, the parties chose symbols to enable the voters to identify their parties with ease.
There were many voters who could not read or write but the symbol would help them identify their party on the ballot. In the case of Zanu, the party was saying, through its symbol, we are like a cock in the village, we are crowing in the morning, it is a new day.
Zapu had a big bull as a symbol; again, they wanted to show that they were the biggest bull in the country.
Q: Well, 33 years on, what is the significance of Unity Day?
A: It is a significant reminder to people that unity is important. Also that if you are divided there is no peace, there will be no progress. Any progress that we want is premised on there being peace and unity.
People should not take the unity we have for granted. They should cherish it and build on it and see that it is important to preserve it.
