Former Vice President Mujuru to Contest 2018 Presidential Election
Rugare Gumbo says the former vice president will definitely clash with President Robert Mugabe in the 2018 presidential election.
WASHINGTON DC — Expelled former Zanu-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo has vowed that former Vice President Joice Mujuru, who was expelled from the party by the Politburo last week, will contest the 2018 presidential elections representing what he calls the original Zanu-PF. Mrs. Mujuru might end up facing President Robert Mugabe, who has already been declared the Zanu-PF candidate by the party unopposed. Mr. Mugabe will be 94 years old at that time. The Zanu-PF Politburo chaired by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko expelled Mrs. Mujuru accusing her, and her late husband, liberation war icon General Solomon Mujuru, of plotting to assassinate President Mugabe. Mrs. Mujuru is also accused of corruption and other vices. She has dismissed all these allegations. She released a statement through her colleagues, which read in part, “ Gumbo noted that they are working with like-minded people to challenge the Zanu-PF hegemony. Acting president Emmerson Mnangagwa on Thursday dismissed rumors that Zanu PF will split into two as false. Mnangagwa told party supporters at Mucheke Stadium in Masvingo that Mrs. Mujuru and her allies were wasting their time trying to take the party to court. Efforts to get a comment from Zanu-PF spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo or Mnangagwa were futile as their mobile phones went unanswered. But Politburo member Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana reiterated Mnangagwa’s assertion that Mrs. Mujuru’s allies are misguided.