The armed wing of ZAPU, known as the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), was founded by Moyo and commanded by General Lookout Masuku.

The members convened a meeting on 8 November, and it was decided that:[10][11] Ex-ZIPRA cadres officially withdrew their membership from the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, which was under the administration of ZANU PF.

The committee's mandate was to set up the association's structures in provinces and districts in preparation for the inaugural congress where the substantive executive was to be elected.

[12] At the party conference, the ZAPU National Consultative Convention, held from 13 to 14 December 2008, Dumiso Dabengwa, a former Home Affairs minister was elected interim chairperson with the mandate to convene a two-day congress starting 11 April 2009.

[15] The party's new platform promised to restore "respectable nationhood" where the people were "the pivot around which proper, able and accountable leadership is elected.