By Talent Gondo| Pastor Patrick Mugadza who hit the headlines last year for his prophecy that former President Robert Mugabe would die on October 17 2017 has been cherry picked by president of the United Democracy Movement (UDM), Violet Mariyacha to deputise her.

The Kariba  based cleric, was today (Tuesday) unveiled by the party in Harare where he confirmed that he was appointed to the vice presidency by the party leader.

“Yes, I can confirm that I was appointed by my party’s President.

Our party Constitution allows the president to nominate and appoint an individual of their choice,” said pastor Mugadza.

He told journalists that his decision to join UDM instead of any other political outfit was influenced by a lot of things chief among them that the party’s ideology resonated with his personal political ambitions.

“I am not joining politics because of any spiritual influence. No.

“The Karibians (people of Kariba) want me to represent them politically as their legislator. Many have bèen calling me asking me to stand as a candidate and this is why I am now venturing into full time politics,” said pastor Mugadza.

He said while his party could not field 210 candidates for the national house of assembly seats, commendable progress had been made in popularizing the over 60 candidates who were contesting this year’s harmonised polls.

“Obviously, we cannot field all the candidates but we have been making inroads countrywide

We want to believe that we have established a good support base to sway the vote in our favour,” he said.

The Mugabe death prophecy cleric who was attacked for his prophercy after shifting goal posts when his October 17 was not fulfilled however dismissed claims that he was seeking political relevance by formally joining politics since he had failed as a pastor arguing that citizens were entitled to their own opinion.

“The people want me and this is my response to the Karibeans.

“I have so much to offer once elected into power and my priorities will be in the health, education and social services sector. Defence cannot be prioritised because we are not at war hence it becomes number four on the country’s top priorities.

“Citizens deserve better and UDM is a people’s movement with their interests at heart,” said pastor Mugadza.