Robert Mugabe’s former deputy has launched a political party to challenge him at the next elections, saying Zimbabwe is a “broken country” that only new leadership can fix. “We are not fighting one man but a system, that system which is unjust”, Mujuru added.
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Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe has said he will not accept aid if it means his country has to accept gay rights.
The veteran leader is expected to stand again for re-election in 2018, but jockeying over his succession has intensified due to his advanced age and speculation about his health.
Zimbabwe’s former vice president Joice Mujuru smiles during a press conference, in Harare, Tuesday, March 1, 2016.
But despite the support she enjoyed at the Zimbabwe People Party’s launch, Mujuru and her new party will likely struggle to remove the powerful ZANU-PF, according to the BBC. Many seem to be advocating a united front to dislodge Zanu PF how feasible this will be is a matter of time. “They control the state machinery and have all the advantages while the opposition is fragmented”.
Supporters of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, may still view Mujuru as loyal to Mugabe and ZANU-PF and will unlikely join her party.
– Rival to Mugabe’s wife?
Mujuru, the widow of Zimbabwe’s first post-independence army general, was sacked from Mugabe’s government and the ruling ZANU-PF party in December 2014.
A former ZANU-PF stalwart, she served in several cabinets under Mugabe and was seen for many years as his favoured choice of successor.
Since her expulsion, there had been hype that she would form a new opposition party, although Mujuru herself kept silent. ” Savior Kasukuwere of the ZANU-PF party told reporters”.
“We don’t want it. It is rotten aid, filthy aid and we won’t have anything to do with it”. Mujuru is a person who builds.
But political analyst Alexander Rusero says that Mujuru will have to work hard to win the hearts of the electorate after being part of Mugabe’s administration for 34 years.
For now it is game-on for Joice Mujuru who still has to battle it out on the political-grand stage with her erstwhile colleagues, who include First Lady Grace Mugabe, among others.
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The president turned 92 on February 21 and held a lavish birthday party last Saturday that was criticised as the country endures a severe drought and a moribund economy. But his assurances came after Mugabe fell under heavy criticism for holding his 92nd birthday party in one of the worst-affected provinces.
