By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former Zanu PF political commissar and cabinet minister Saviour Kasukuwere says president Emmerson Mnangagwa was behind the Zimbabwean high court’s decision barring him from contesting in the upcoming August national elections.
Kasukuwere said he had filed papers with the supreme court, challenging that decision.
Briefing the media on Friday, the former Zanu-PF member said he would not be deterred by what he termed the capture of the Zimbabwean state.
Zanu-PF challenged Kasukuwere’s candidature for the presidential elections, saying he had been out of the country for a continuous 18 months and therefore was not eligible to stand for elections
The high court ruled in favour of the party.
But Kasukuwere believes this is another move by Mnangagwa to bar him from participating in next month’s polls.
“You don’t use the laws of the country. You don’t weaponise institutions to only satisfy your narrow parochial interests.”
Kasukuwere said that since filing papers with Zimbabwe’s supreme court, he remained eligible to stand for elections.
“I remain a lawfully nominated candidate for the presidency. We are aware of why Mnangagwa has to resort to these kinds of tactics.”
With just over a month before the Zimbabwean elections, the supreme court is yet to give a date on when it will hear the matter
Zimbabwe heads to the polls in August against a backdrop of one of the world’s highest rates of inflation and accusations of an intensifying crackdown on the opposition.
Long-time president Robert Mugabe was deposed in 2017 but many say that little has changed.
In the run-up to the vote, questions linger over how free and fair the ballot will be in a country that is trying to rehabilitate its image.
Zimbabweans will vote on 23 August to elect councillors, members of parliament, and a president. If there is no outright winner in the presidential contest, a run-off will be held six weeks later, on 2 October.
Zimbabwe’s electoral commission has approved 11 candidates.
This is sharply down on the 23 who contested the last election, in 2018, no doubt because each candidate now has to pay $20,000 (£16,000), up from $1,000 (£800).
But the contest is likely to be between two candidates:
- Incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa, from the governing Zanu-PF party
- Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, from the Citizen’s Coalition for Change (CCC)
Mnangagwa, 80, has led Zimbabwe since the military forced Robert Mugabe to resign in 2017, and then won a disputed election a year later. He was a long-time ally of Mugabe before the pair fell out.
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