ZANU PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo scorned a newspaper report that he would be barred from running for MP under new rules drawn up by the party.
Zanu PF has come up with new guidelines for candidates who will take part in internal primary elections which include a requirement that only members who have served the party for five consecutive years are eligible.
NewsDay said Moyo, who won Tsholotsho North as an independent in 2008 before rejoining Zanu PF in 2009, was “one of the biggest casualties of... the proposed regulations” which are yet to be affirmed by the politburo.
But Moyo told New Zimbabwe.com on Thursday that the NewsDay report was inaccurate as far as the new rules relate to sitting MPs.
“These good for nothing fools should know that what is important about rules is not their dogma but how they bend,” Moyo said.
“The fact is that all rules have exceptions in order to avoid breaking because a rule or ruler that does not bend breaks!”
Moyo, who served as Information Minister between 2000 and 2005 before quitting Zanu PF after he was linked to a plot to remove President Robert Mugabe as party leader, said he supported the new rules recommended by Mutasa.
“As a member of the party’s leadership, I fully and unequivocally support the rule in question because it is right for the party and in fact has always been there sometimes in spirit and other times in letter. Now the idea is to have it both in letter and spirit,” he explained.
The new rule is seen as an attempt by the party to block so-called “young turks” who include retired soldiers who have been positioning themselves to challenge the Zanu PF old guard in a number of constituencies.