The High Court will Friday sit to hear an urgent application filed by Zanu PF activist, Lovedale Mangwana to have 2023 presidential candidate Saviour Kasukuwere disqualified from the race for allegedly breaching provisions of the constitution and the Electoral Act.
The matter will be heard by Justice David Mangota.
The exiled former cabinet minister and one-time Zanu PF political commissar is contesting the poll as an independent candidate.
But before he could have his campaign on track, Kasukuwere has to get the legality of his ambitious bid out of the way.
Mangwana is seeking an order setting aside the decision to accept the once influential politician’s nomination papers by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
He argues that this was done in violation of section 91 of the Constitution.
In his founding affidavit, Mangwana also said the Electoral Act does not allow a candidate who has been out of the country for over 18 months to contest for president.
“I submit that the decision to accept first respondent’s nomination paper is in breach of section 91 (1) (d) of the Constitution and invalid,” he said.
The activist said it is public record that Kasukuwere has been away for over a year.
He further challenges the politician to prove him wrong.
Mangwana said he has also written to ZEC complaining about the matter but was advised to approach the Electoral Court within four days of the sitting of the Nomination Court.
Kasukuwere struck enmity with then Vice President Mnangagwa when he fronted a Zanu PF faction that was fiercely opposed to the now Zimbabwe incumbent’s spirited maneuvers to succeed then President Robert Mugabe during the pinnacle of the party’s succession wars back in 2017.
His efforts were derailed by a bloodless military coup against Mugabe November 2017 in place of his nemesis.
Kasukuwere’s return from exile has been stifled by threats of prosecution over a slew of criminal charges levelled against him by the Mnangagwa regime.
He allegedly committed the offences during his tenure as cabinet minister.
There are suggestions Mnangagwa could have a vested interest in Mangwana’s challenge against Kasukuwere’s legitimacy as a candidate amid fears he could chip away at the Zimbabwe leader’s support base.