A Zimbabwean living in California, Violet Mariyacha, says she will be contesting the 2018 presidential election, which will feature several candidates including 93 year-old President Robert Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change founding president Morgan Tsvangirai.
In a statement, Mariyacha said she would improve the standard of living for Zimbabweans and become their voice if elected president in the crucial poll.
She is expected to contest the election under her party – the United Movements and Unions Party, which was formed sometime this year.
Mariyacha, who is engaged in humanitarian work, has urged the United Nations to intervene in Zimbabwe, saying there are serious cases of human rights abuses.
The statement read in part, "Mariyacha has recently launched a grass roots campaign to put pressure on the United Nations and the world to intervene in the country’s upcoming 2018 elections, vowing to prevent the human rights violations, arbitrary arrests and abductions, beatings, torture, and killings of members and supporters of the opposition parties during the 2008 election."
Mariyacha claims that she has been in politics since the 1990s.