The former leader of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), Dumiso Dabengwa, has passed away.
Dabengwa died on his way to India, where he was going to receive medical attention.
He was a former intelligence chief of the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Party (ZIPRA) during the fight for independence in the 1970s.
During the 2018 national elections in Zimbabwe, Dabengwa backed MDC leader Nelson Chamisa.
Dabengwa was not active in ZAPU politics, and had indicated that he was intending to step down from a leadership position at the party’s coming congress.
In 2009, he announced that he was withdrawing from the unity pact signed between ZANU-PF and ZAPU in 1987.
He had a strong relationship with the African National Congress (ANC) which dates back to the years of exile.
During the lead-up to the removal of former President Robert Mugabe from office, Dabengwa was scathing against Mugabe’s style of leadership.
