Zimbabwe: Kasukuwere to Square Off Against Mnangagwa

Saviour Kasukuwere.
6 June 2023

Former ZANU PF Political Commissar, Savior Kasukuwere has thrown his hat in the 2023 Presidential election ring and will square-off against his former colleague President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Kasukuwere who is currently in self-imposed exile since 2017 when the late former president Robert Mugabe was overthrown in a military-backed coup-de-tat will contest the upcoming elections as an independent presidential candidate.

Former ZANU PF youth leader Godfrey Tsenengamu who is rallying behind Kasukuwere confirmed the former Local Government minister's move.

"Yes, he is our candidate for this upcoming election and we are behind him. He is not representing any party but he will be an independent candidate.

"He is going to issue a statement very soon, but you have to know that a lot of people are being him including those who are currently in the ZAU PF party," said Tsenengamu.

Tsenengamu also said a number of movements had created to support Kasukuwere including the Tyson Wabantu and the 'New Zimbabwe Alliance' .

The New Zimbabwe Alliance has been posting on social media recently in support of Kasukuwere.

"By standing in the August 2023 elections, President Kasukuwere is representing the voiceless masses, the downtrodden, the disenfranchised citizens, as well patriots who were violently driven from the shores of the motherland. He's standing against black on black oppression.

"Zimbabwe, just like any other democracy, needs opposition. Opposition forces government to account for it's actions or inaction. But can we say that we have opposition in Zimbabwe? The recent passage of the Patriotic Act tells a different story. We leave it here for now," read some of the tweets posted by the New Zimbabwe Alliance.

The August 23 elections are promising fireworks with a number of new entrants including Elisabeth Valerio, Robert Chapman and Irene Muyenziwa adding to the long list of people vying for the country's number one job.

Other presidential election contestants includes Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change, Douglas Mwonzora of the MDC party, National Constitutional Assembly leader Professor Lovemore Madhuku and Linda Masarira of the LEAD party among others.

In 2018, 22 candidates contested in the presidential election, a new record for the country since independence in 1980.

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