'Mujuru welcome to rejoin Zanu-PF,' says Kasukuwere

Zanu-PF says it is ready to welcome back former Vice-President Joice Mujuru and her allies, who were purged in 2014 on allegations of plotting to topple President Robert Mugabe from power.

Zanu-PF political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere, claimed a number of ex-party members, who had joined Mujuru's ZimPF, had indicated willingness to rejoin the ruling party.

"I received a call from one Dzingai. He was with People First in Masvingo. He said he wants to come back and we are welcoming them. Even Mujuru is welcome back. She has to write a letter to her province and the appropriate district in Mount Darwin will look at it and make an appropriate decision," he said.

But Mujuru yesterday scoffed at the invite, saying she would not go back to Zanu-PF, describing Kasukuwere's remarks as "a diary of a mad man".

"Suggesting that Mujuru can go back to Zanu-PF is wishful thinking," Mujuru's spokesperson, Gift Nyandoro, said.

"It is like seeing satan wanting to be associated with Christians in the house of God. It is impossible. As we speak now, the former VP is leading a formidable party that is ready to take over power and transform the country's economic fortunes."

But Kasukuwere said Zanu-PF was getting stronger and all those who were chucked out of the party wanted to return.

"Zanu-PF is strong, we have just bagged the Chimanimani by-election, we are heading for Bikita West and we will win," he said.

"We have our conference, which is coming, and robust discussions are going to continue within the party. The issues that seem to be of concern to some of you like whether the vice-presidency should be elected or not, that is the party, that is the maturity in the party and it shows how people ought to debate within the party."

As Zanu-PF heads for its annual conference slated for Masvingo next week, debate has been raging on whether Mugabe's deputies should be elected or appointed. The debate was ignited by Kasukuwere's Mashonaland Central province, which recently proposed that the vice-presidents be subjected to an election.

Mashonaland Central provincial chairperson, Dickson Mafios, who is Kasukuwere's brother, came under attack from the State media and members of rival Team Lacoste faction, who accused him of trying to usurp Mugabe's powers and scuttle Mnangagwa's bid to succeed the Zanu-PF strongman.

"Issues must be discussed and there is nobody in the party who is going to say this must not be said, by who? People in the party are free to say what they think makes the party stronger. Some have said Kasukuwere must go as commissar, it's all right. They wrote that as a resolution and it's all right, that is how the party works," he said in Mafios' defence.

Asked if Zanu-PF was panicking over moves by opposition parties to form a coalition, Kasukuwere retorted: "Which opposition are you talking about?

"They know that we will defeat them come 2018. It is a coalition of failed individuals, who can't do anything. Do you think we lost to Temba Mliswa in Norton? Which party does Mliswa represent? It is reality that Zimbabwe is Zanu-PF territory and everyone knows that. All those parties are full of our members, whom we just recall back to Zanu-PF anytime we want," he said.