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.
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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.
