Mujuru in bid to save constituency

Ousted vice-president Joice Mujuru this week launched a desperate bid to save her constituency amid reports her sibling had chickened out at the 11th hour.

President Robert Mugabe last week issued a proclamation setting March 27 as the by-election date, and in the process declared Mujuru's now former constituency of Mt Darwin West vacant, Mujuru has held the constituency for the better part of the last three decades.

President Mugabe also declared vacant the constituency held by Mujuru's immediate successor in government, Emmerson Mnangagwa Chirumhanzu-Zibagwe in the Midlands.

The ex-vice president's brother, Lloyd Mugari was according to the provincial Chair Dickson Mafios, among 14 candidates who had expressed an interest in taking over from the former Zanu-PF number two, deposed from her party and government positions following the former guerrilla movement's watershed 6th congress late last year.

However, Mugari was ruled ineligible by the Zanu-PF provincial electoral directorate. Mujuru was born Runaida Joice Mugari before she married the late revered military supremo Solomon Mujuru during the liberation struggle as well as after assuming the nom-de-guerre Teurai Ropa.