The High Court has nullified Saviour Kasukuwere’s nomination as a Presidential candidate for the August 23, 2023 elections.
In a ruling today, The High Court ruled that the former Zanu Pf Political Commissar had ceased to be a registered voter as he has been out of the country for over 18 months.
Kasukuwere, who is a former Local Government Minister, has been living in self imposed exile in South Africa since the 2017 coup that toppled longtime ruler the late Robert Mugabe.
Zanu Pf activist Lovedale Mangwana had challenged Kasukuwere’s nomination, arguing that the burly Mt Darwin native was in breach of section 91 of the constitution as well as electoral laws by being absent from his constituency for more than 18months, which meant that he was no longer a registered voter and thus was ineligible to run for office.
The self exiled former Mt Darwin South Member of Parliament defended his candidature stating that he had been out of the country on medical grounds, adding that hsi candidature didn’t violate Mangwana’s rights.
Kasukuwere, who was a senior member of the vanquished G40 faction of Zanu Pf that opposed Mnangagwa’s ascendency, has however said he will appeal the ruling.
“They are scared and running scared, but I’m appealing. The battle continues” said Kasukuwere responding to journalists of Twitter.
The former Mashonaland Central political heavyweight had been expected to take a significant amount of votes from Zanu Pf’s Emmerson Mnangagwa, riding on the country’s complex ethnic demographic. Kasukuwere, a Zezuru from Mt Darwin, was expected to get a strong vote from Mashonaland provinces and Mugabe supporters who still have a bone to chew with Mnangagwa over the ouster of the Liberation war icon in a 2017 military coup.
Savior Kasukuwere had entered the race as an independent Presidential candidate.