ZAPU regrets to announce that police have barred our party from holding a public meeting at Tsholotsho Business Centre. The meeting was scheduled for Wednesday 29 December. Zapu president Dr Dumiso DabengwaPolice in Tsholotsho refused to sanction the meeting claiming that they did not have sufficient manpower to cover the event. Zapu believes the police are under pressure from certain quarters to thwart the Zapu crusade in Tsholotsho. We wonder if the police have ever refused to sanction a Zanu-PF rally anywhere in Zimbabwe. We even doubt if Zanu-PF even applies for police clearance to hold meetings in most cases.
The cancellation of the meeting disappointed residents of Tsholotsho centre and surrounding villages who did not hide their excitement and anxiety to attend their first Zapu meeting since 1987. We suspect the excitement may have caused the powers-that-be to influence the police not to sanction the meeting. However, that will not stop the inevitable; Tsholotsho will come back home to Zapu at the next polls. Our party has the requisite political experience and structures to counter dirty tactics by our opponents.