A powerful former ally of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has launched a party to challenge his 35-year rule. Joice Mujuru said the Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) party had been formed because “Zimbabwe is a broken country”.
Ms Mujuru was Mr Mugabe’s second-in-command until the ruling Zanu-PF party sacked her in 2014 after accusing her of plotting to oust and kill him. “I’m neither a witch nor an assassin,” Ms Mujuru said, at the party’s launch in the capital, Harare.
She is the most senior former Zanu-PF leader to form an opposition party, and is tipped to be its presidential candidate in the 2018 election.