HARARE – Saviour Kasukuwere will “fight to the bitter end” to stop his name being removed from presidential candidates for the August 23 election, aides said on Wednesday after he launched an appeal against a High Court decision to disqualify him on the basis that he had been out of the country for more than 18 months.

“The judgement is regrettable as it compromises the integrity of the elections. Lots of issues are questionable and cannot be sustained by an appellate court,” his chief election agent and spokesperson Jaqueline Sande said.

“We’re going to fight to the bitter end until we restore Mr Kasukuwere’s right to participate in these elections.”

Justice David Mangota, in a judgement delivered on Wednesday, granted an application by a Zanu PF activist Lovedale Mangwana who wanted Kasukuwere disqualified on the basis that he had spent a lengthy period of time resident in South Africa and his name should be removed from the roll of voters – effectively barring him from running in the election.

“Kasukuwere is interdicted from representing or holding himself out to the general public and electorate in Zimbabwe or abroad, whether physically or through any form of media, as a candidate for election to the office of president of the Republic of Zimbabwe in elections scheduled to be heard on August 23, 2023,” stated the order granted by Mangota.

Walter Mzembi, who is the chairman of Kasukuwere’s presidential campaign, said in a statement: “Our campaign is against elitism and family capture of the state. Removing Kasukuwere from the ballot does not translate into votes for Emmerson Mnangagwa. He cannot choose his own competitors. He remains unelectable.”

Mzembi said the judgement had done a “splendid job of campaigning for our candidate.”

“For us, this is a generational fight which no-one can stop,” Mzembi added.

Kasukuwere’s Supreme Court appeal, which will be heard on an urgent basis, temporarily sets aside the High Court judgement.

Kasukuwere, a former cabinet minister and political commissar of Zanu PF, is running on a campaign to woo disaffected supporters of his former party and loyalists of the late former president Robert Mugabe who was ousted in a coup in 2017 and replaced by Mnangagwa.

The presidency is being contested by 11 candidates, including main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change.