SELF-EXILED former Cabinet minister Saviour Kasukuwere’s campaign team in Bulawayo says it will forge ahead with election campaigns for their leader, despite the High Court nullifying his candidacy.
In a ruling on Wednesday, High Court judge Justice David Mangota said Kasukuwere failed to prove why he should remain a presidential candidate.
He made the ruling after a Zanu PF member, Lovedale Mangwana, approached the court seeking an order to declare a decision by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to accept Kasukuwere’s nomination papers null and void.
Mangwana said Kasukuwere’s candidature was in violation of section 91 of the Constitution because he had been out of his constituency and country for 18 consecutive months.
Kasukuwere has since filed an appeal at the Supreme Court challenging the High Court ruling.
Kasukuwere’s Bulawayo executive campaign team member, Richard Musiyadzaanikwa, urged fellow supporters to remain united.
“Attention: Bulawayo executive committee, co-ordinators, polling agents: This message serves to notify you that we got communication from our top comrades giving us the green light to carry on with our campaigns for our independent presidential candidate Saviour Kasukuwere,” Musiyadzaanikwa said.
“So as Bulawayo constituency convenors we are not going to be stopped by the court or Zimbabwe Electoral Commission regarding our campaigns.
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“So it is the duty of every one of us to take the campaigns to a higher level. Let's rally support for our president Saviour Kasukuwere and we can only accept the directive from his office.”
Kasukuwere, who was popularly known as Tyson in Zanu PF political circles in his heyday, fled the country during the 2017 military coup which deposed the late former President Robert Mugabe and propelled Emmerson Mnangagwa to the presidency.
Kasukuwere faces arrest over pending cases, police have said. Zanu PF has also said Kasukuwere faces other criminal charges.
