The Zimbabwe Home Affairs Minister Obert Mpofu says his former cabinet colleague Saviour Kasukuwere was welcome back home and has allayed speculation the government harboured plans to pursue vendettas against his once bitter Zanu PF rival.

Kasukuwere came back from to the country on Tuesday after he fled into exile November last year when the military seized control of government from then President Robert Mugabe, accusing him, among his misdemeanours, of protecting corrupt cronies from prosecution.

“He has come back home. He is a Zimbabwean. So, what could be his fate other than that he is a returnee from exile!” Mpofu said when asked what the former Local Government Minister’s fate was under the new government.

The former Zanu PF political commissar was seen as one of the kingpins of the infamous G40 faction that put up a fierce campaign to block then Vice President Mnangagwa from taking over from Mugabe.

Minister Obert Mpofu refused to comment on whether Kasukuwere faced any offences that warranted his arrest by Zimbabwean authorities.

“I am not a judge. I am not a policeman. Kasukuwere has decided to come back. Well, that is his decision. He has just come back to where he belongs.

“Whether there would be other things that you are talking about, it’s a matter of those institutions that deal with such issues and I am not responsible for his coming back or what has happened to him or what is likely to happen to him.

“What I know is that he is a citizen of this country and we welcome him back in the country. We welcome all our citizens who happen to be outside the country for whatever reason.”

While Kasukuwere braved the journey back home, fellow exiled G40 proponents and ex-cabinet ministers Jonathan Moyo and Patrick Zhuwao have remained holed up in exile.