Against the Odds: A History of Zimbabwe Project

11. Political Unity Brings Changes, 1988–1991

— 144 — At the end of 1987, ZimPro’s work was greatly facilitated by a major event in the political life of Zimbabwe. At the end of the year, ZAPU succumbed to ZANU’s use of force and joined with them in a new, united ZANU-PF. Never mind that ZAPU had in effect surrendered to the most unacceptable pressures from ZANU – for the time being at least the leaders had buried the hatchet, and the rest of the population could do the same. The unity was to last for more than twenty years, and it immensely relieved the leadership of Zimbabwe Project. It will be remembered that the divisions between the two parties had provided the context for the attempted coup in 1983, as ZANU sympathisers accused the director, Judith Todd, of favouritism and attempted to bring the organisation under the wing of ZANU. At that time Todd had fiercely defended the obligation to remain neutral and respond to need wherever it arose, which required assisting ex-combatants of both liberation armies. ZimPro had been able to continue in this bi-partisan mode, but not entirely without threat. In August 1986 all NGOs had been summoned by the Minister of Home Affairs, Enos Nkala, and given a strong warning, after documents describing the atrocities committed by the Fifth Brigade during Gukurahundi were released to the public by Amnesty International and the American Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. Nkala told the NGO representatives assembled in Harare that government could happily do without them, and if they were to continue operations they must remain in step with government, register with the Ministry of Local Government and report all their 11 Political Unity Brings Changes 1988–1991 — 145 — Political Unity Brings Changes projects to the district administration in the areas of operation. ZimPro hastened to write to the Minister of Local Government seeking registration and upcoming events in districts were duly reported. However, talks about unity had at that time already begun. ZAPU and ZPRA detainees, some imprisoned as early as 1982, were being released during the second half of 1986 and negotiations on a settlement between the two parties continued off and on through 1987. Coincidentally, the seven-year period prescribed at Lancaster House for a separate voters’ roll with reserved seats in Parliament to protect white interests was about to expire. This would allow for constitutional amendments that would eliminate separate white voting and parliamentary representation . ZANU-PF had been loudly proclaiming the advent of the one-party state, and unity between the two parties would facilitate this development, but in the end, this was not to be. Instead, the constitutional amendments provided for a multiparty system, with a stronger hand for the executive in the person of an executive president and a single house of parliament in which the president would have the right to nominate 30 members. It also provided for two vice-presidents. Finally, just before Christmas, a deal was struck, and PF ZAPU agreed to dissolve itself into ZANU-PF, with all branches and party structures to be amalgamated; Joshua Nkomo was to become senior minister, and several other ZAPU parliamentarians were to join the government. For Zimbabwe Project, this political unity was good news indeed. While such deep divisions as those which separated ZAPU and ZANU would not heal overnight, there was hope that this move would usher in a new era of harmony and common purpose and enable work to continue without fear of treading on sensitive toes. The first concrete way in which the new political dispensation affected Zimbabwe Project was a change in its leadership. Todd had, earlier in the year, expressed privately the wish to step down as director. The organisation had grown into a bureaucracy which did not particularly suit her style or her interest, or allow her to work most in her areas of strength. — 146 — Against the Odds: a history of Zimbabwe Project However, after all the difficulties of 1983, she felt reluctant to leave the ZimPro in the hands of someone who was a ZAPU product when that party was considered an enemy of the state. But now that dilemma had fallen away. She wrote to a friend: the unity pact at least now gives the opportunity for me to move swiftly in getting our trustees to appoint the ZP deputy director Paul Themba Nyathi as director in my place …. I’m tired now. I...