Zimbabwe: Former Vice President Joice Mujuru to challenge President Mugabe in 2018 elections

Zimbabwe’s former vice president Joice Mujuru announced plans Tuesday to run in elections scheduled for 2018 against President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party.

Mujuru said her new political party, Zimbabwe People First, is willing to form a coalition with other opposition groups in order to oust the veteran leader – promising to revive the economy and tackle the country’s unemployment problem.

She was the country’s first female vice president until she left government in 2014. In her first public address since then, she told reporters, that the new Zimbabwe People First party would bring jobs and review the ruling ZANU-PF party’s black economic empowerment laws.

“Today we confirm our existence as a viable, inclusive home-grown political party,” Mujuru, 60, said to cheers and ululation from supporters. “We are not fighting one man but a system, that system which is unjust,” she added.

There is no independent estimate on the size of her support.

Mugabe has been endorsed as the ZANU-PF candidate for the 2018 elections.