'Mujuru won't return to Mnagagwa's Zanu-PF'

Former vice president Joice Mujuru has ruled rejoining Zanu-PF notwithstanding a decision by the ruling party to rescind all expulsions made by the ruling party since 2014.

The central committee -  which is the highest decision making body in Zanu-PF - on Saturday extended an  olive branch to party officials  elbowed out of the party ahead of the 2014 congress when Mujuru lost both her government and party vice president position.

The 62-year-old Mujuru was President Robert Mugabe's deputy for a decade and seen as the veteran president's likely successor until he fired her in 2014, accusing her of leading a plot to oust him.

She launched a new party National People's Party (NPP) in March last year to challenge her ally-turned-adversary, and has started to prepare a campaign that will see her stand as a presidential candidate  in next year's election, promising to revive the economy and repair strained relations with the West.

Mujuru, who has consolidated power as leader of the opposition NPP, said yesterday she would not be going back to Zanu-PF. This comes just after she has been chosen as the flag-bearer of the People's Rainbow Coalition (PRC) and will stand in elections next year as the alliance's  presidential candidate.

"There is no chance in hell of …Mujuru returning to join Zanu-PF. Mujuru is the president of NPP  and presidential candidate of PRC, a coalition of democratic and progressive  opposition parties," her spokesperson Gift Nyandoro said adding that "rather PRC is the government-in-waiting."

The NPP was formed after the Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) split over disagreemenbts between Mujuru and the party's founders Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo.

The rebranded party has also been hit by a series of resignations.