The ruling Zanu PF party has dared exiled former Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere to come back home and challenge President Emmerson Mnangagwa in next year’s polls.
The party’s information director Tafadzwa Mugwadi said this
on Sunday on the sidelines of a party Press conference which was addressed by
its national political commissar Mike Bimha to announce members who won its
recent central committee elections.
Kasukuwere, who fled into self-imposed exile in 2017 during
the military coup that overthrew the late former President Robert Mugabe, has
expressed willingness to contest Mnangagwa in next year’s polls.
Mugwadi said the borders were open for Kasukuwere to come
and contest.
“Kasukuwere claims that he can win an election in Zimbabwe.
The borders are very open for him to come and campaign in Zimbabwe. Our
airports have been modernised and he can get his clearance just minutes after
landing into the country,” Mugwadi said.
“He should just come and contest rather than make noise on
the fringes. The battle is about numbers; he should look himself in the mirror
and introspect. It’s actually cold out there, he will be defeated.”
Mugwadi said former well-known Zanu PF bigwigs had eaten
humble pie and applied for readmission to Zanu PF.
“No individual is bigger than Zanu PF,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from Kasukuwere were fruitless
yesterday.
Meanwhile, Zanu PF has readmitted Mashonaland East province
bigwigs who were suspended in 2018 for contesting elections as independent
candidates.
Former Goromonzi West legislator Biata Nyamupinga and
former provincial member Richard Mavhunga have been readmitted.
Former diplomat Noah Mangondo is also set to bounce back,
although he is yet to receive his readmission letter.
Nyamupinga stood as an independent candidate in Goromonzi
West and lost to Energy Mutodi (Zanu PF), while Mavhunga, a retired soldier
stood as an independent candidate in Marondera West and lost to Zanu PF’s
Sphiwe Mukunyaidze.
Mangondo was suspended after contesting as an independent
candidate against the late Joel Biggie Matiza in Murewa South during the 2018
elections.
Both Mavhunga and Mangondo were barred from contesting in
the March 26 Marondera Central and Murewa South by-elections, respectively.
Mavhunga yesterday confirmed his readmission, although he
did not divulge more details.
“I am back in the party and as always, we are mobilising
towards achieving the needed five million votes for President Emmerson
Mnangagwa,” he said.
A letter addressed to the returnees showed that they were
accorded full membership rights, meaning that they can contest for any position
within the party. Newsday
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