Zimbabwe's ex-veep Mujuru gears up to contest Mugabe in 2018

Zimbabwe’s former vice-president Joyce Mujuru is now leading the country’s new opposition party. She pulled a huge crowd on Saturday at the Stanley Square in Bulawayo, as the newly formed Zimbabwe People First party rolled out a national campaign programme ahead of the 2018 elections.

According to the party’s spokesman, Jealousy Mawarire, the party has 10 provincial rallies lined up in different parts of the country this month, ahead of it’s official launch on July 30th.

#Zimbabwe sunday morning newspaper headlines… Some Reaction to Joice Mujuru rally pic.twitter.com/7KBdcBa8me

— harumutasa/aljazeera (@harumutasa) June 19, 2016

The former deputy head of state was sacked by Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe in 2014, as he accused her of corruption and plotting to kill him.

Mrs Mujuru fought alongside Mugabe in the 1970s guerrilla war against white-minority rule, but her relationship with the president broke down when his wife Grace Mugabe entered politics in early 2014.

Mugabe who’s now 90 years old has been in power since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, and is due to stand for election again in 2018.