ZAPU has thrown its weight behind Bulawayo mayor David Coltart after he came under heavy criticism from Local Government minister Daniel Garwe for hosting Ndebele king Bulelani Khumalo.
Garwe wrote demanding a report from Coltart on why he hosted Bulelani, whom he described as a charlatan.
Zapu president Sibangilizwe Nkomo said the opposition party would not allow Garwe to bully the Bulawayo mayor.
“We know that there are people with a hidden agenda of trying to get rid of our Bulawayo mayor because they do not like him,” Nkomo said.
“We love our mayor and we will defend him. We will not be intimidated by minister Garwe’s bully tactics.”
He accused Garwe of undermining Ndebele cultural traditions, norms and values.
“He is still fighting a colonialist agenda,” Nkomo said.
“King Bulelani has the right to visit the mayor just like anyone, whether he or she is a visitor or not.
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“If we are true with the decolonising agenda, Garwe should be the first to identify and recognise all tribes and their kingships.
“Even the minister himself belongs to a certain chieftainship.”
Nkomo said Garwe’s statement undermined efforts aimed at finding closure to the Gukurahundi massacres.
King Bulelani’s spokesperson Bornwell Khumalo said the king was not interested in politics, but preserving the Ndebele culture.
“He cannot say our king is a fraud, or defunct. That is an insult,” he said.
“If we are practising our culture, which he does not understand, where does he come in? We are practising our culture, not politics.”
The Ndebele kingship has had several claimants in recent years.
Mzilikazi was the founding father and first king of the Ndebele state when he left Nguniland after rebelling against King Shaka around 1826.
King Mzilikazi Khumalo died in September 1868.
Lobengula was crowned Ndebele king after the death of Mzilikazi.
It is believed that Lobengula died in 1894.
Lobengula was the last Ndebele king.
There have been several attempts at reviving the Ndebele kingship, but the government maintains that Zimbabwe is not a monarch.
