A Zanu PF activist, Lovedale Mangwana, has asked the High Court to stop former Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere’s name from being included on the ballot paper for the August 23 polls.
Mangwana, who successfully challenged Kasukuwere’s nomination as a presidential candidate, is believed to be a proxy for the ruling party. He made the latest application to execute the High Court’s judgment, which ruled that Kasukuwere had failed to prove why he should remain a presidential candidate.
Mangwana argues that Kasukuwere’s Supreme Court appeal is frivolous and meant to result in an election whose result may be constitutionally invalid. Kasukuwere has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa of weaponising the law to bar him from contesting the elections.
Kasukuwere fled the country during the 2017 coup that saw Mnangagwa assuming power after the removal of the late president Robert Mugabe. Zanu PF is said to be fearful that his candidacy will divide the ruling party’s vote and give an advantage to Citizens Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa, who narrowly lost the disputed 2018 elections to Mnangagwa.
Police have said that Kasukuwere has pending court cases. Elections are to be held on August 23.
