Former Mugabe ally to run for office

Robert Mugabe's former Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere says he will challenge for the presidency in 2023 due to popular demand. ‘People want me to be the leader in leadership renewal, particularly the young people,’ he told the Sunday Times from exile in SA. He said he was initially reluctant to challenge President Emmerson Mnangagwa, but disgruntled members of Zanu-PF and opposition parties had urged him to ‘take the bull by its horns’. ‘People know that I stood by Mugabe,’ Kasukuwere said. ‘As (the) former Zanu-PF political commissar, I am deeply respected within and beyond Zimbabwe. His spokesperson, Ntokozo Msipa, said Kasukuwere's stint in Mugabe's Cabinet meant ‘he now knows the mistakes that need to be corrected’. Kasukuwere's political career was cut short by the military coup in November 2017. He and his ally Jonathan Moyo plotted fled to SA via Mozambique.