Court bars Saviour Kasukuwere from Zimbabwe’s presidential election

The Zimbabwe high court has barred independent presidential candidate and former cabinet minister Saviour Kasukuwere from contesting the presidential elections on August 23. 

On Wednesday, high court judge David Mangota delivered this judgment and ordered the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) not to include his name on ballot papers.

The judgment came after an urgent court application by a Zanu-PF activist, Lovedale Mangwana, who challenged Kasukuwere's nomination and sought that he be disqualified because he has been living outside Zimbabwe for more than 18 months.

The former minister has been in self-imposed exile in SA since 2017, when late president Robert Mugabe was toppled in a military coup. Kasukuwere briefly returned to Zimbabwe in 2018 and was arrested on corruption charges. These were later dismissed by the Harare magistrate’s court, but not before he left the country again.

A Mugabe loyalist, Kasukuwere was linked to the so-called Generation 40 (G40) faction of the ruling party, which wanted Grace Mugabe to succeed her husband.

Kasukuwere said he will challenge the judgment.

The former minister is among 11 candidates who filed nomination papers, approved by the ZEC, to run in the elections. The race is expected to be between incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa, of Zanu-PF, and opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).

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