MAFELA Trust says it will continue to gather information on the history of Zapu and its armed wing, ZPRA, whose records were seized by government in 1982.
The seizure happened during the late former President Robert Mugabe’s tenure.
Mafela Trust was established in 1989 by former Zapu freedom fighters to research and preserve the history of the party and its armed wing after the 1982 seizure.
It documents liberation war history through projects such as the Fallen Heroes initiative and oral history.
One of the surviving former Zapu national security organisation members, Zaphania Moyo, told Southern Eye that efforts are ongoing to rebuild the historical record while some of the people with first-hand knowledge are still alive.
“Things are not moving in the right direction,” Moyo said.
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“Forty-six years into independence, we are still pursuing our liberation war history after it was confiscated by the government.”
He said they began collecting information by identifying mass graves, including those at the Jotsholo turn-off and other sites.
Moyo said the trust was also working to rehabilitate former training centres in Zambia, such as Nampundu and Mkushi, to turn them into liberation war museums.
He added that the trust was engaging pioneers of the liberation struggle to gather more information.
“Things are moving slowly due to financial constraints,” Moyo said.
“We do not have an office to operate from.
“We used to occupy a borrowed office and after it was taken back by the owner, some of our documents ended up being kept under the Dabengwa Foundation.”
He said the trust was trying to engage the family of the late Dumiso Dabengwa regarding some of the documents.
“We are also facing challenges in locating some of the properties,” Moyo said.