Zimbabwe”s ex-VP launches party to challenge veteran Mugabe
Zimbabwe’s former vice president Joice Mujuru launched a new party to challenge her ally-turned-adversary Robert Mugabe, promising to revive the economy and repair strained relations with the West. Mujuru was 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 […]
Zimbabwe’s former vice president Joice Mujuru launched a new party to challenge her ally-turned-adversary Robert Mugabe, promising to revive the economy and repair strained relations with the West.
Mujuru was 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.
In her first public address since then, she told reporters on Tuesday the new Zimbabwe People First party would bring jobs and review the ruling ZANU-PF party’s divisive black economic empowerment laws, which critics say have scared off investors.
She said she was open to alliances with other opposition groups before 2018 presidential elections.
“We are not fighting one man but a system, that system which is unjust,” she told an audience including reporters, Western diplomats and four former cabinet ministers fired by Mugabe.