THE newly enacted statutory instrument by the Government of South Africa banning political activism by refugees in that country has thrown fugitive G40 members, mainly Walter Mzembi, Patrick Zhuwao and Saviour Kasukuwere into a quandary.
The former government ministers are reportedly involved in politics, using South Africa as their launchpad for a political comeback into Zimbabwe.
Political analysts have described the development as a blow to the trio’s political ambitions.
Former Tourism minister Mzembi is the current interim president of the newly formed People’s Party and political analysts say his career as a politician is dead under water.
Mzembi is a fugitive from justice as he faces a plethora of corruption charges against him back home in Zimbabwe, which could lead to his arrest and eventual incarceration upon return.
Kasukuwere also recently launched in absentia his own Tyson Wabantu political project in Bulawayo.
Kasukuwere sought sanctuary in South Africa following the November 2017 coup which toppled the late former President Robert Mugabe.
Former Zanu PF legislator, Patrick Zhuwao, has continued his interest in politics as shown by his occasional attendance at many of Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)’s party meetings.
Malema is the president of EFP, a political opposition entity in South Africa.
Zhuwao, who is Mugabe’s nephew, also escaped arrest into neighbouring South Africa in November 2017.
Reports from South Africa indicate that Zhuwao last month applied to join the EFF as an ordinary card-carrying member of the party in its Gauteng province.
The statutory instrument banning refugees from political participation has thrown into disarray the fugitives’ political lifespans, implying they should now either continue their lives as mere fugitives or come back home and face the charges being levelled against them by the Government of Zimbabwe.