By Paul Nyathi|Minister for Provincial Affairs for Matabeleland South Abednico Ncube may have just found another lifeline after being brought back to contest as the ZANU PF candidate for Gwanda South constituency.

Reports from within the party in Gwanda indicate that Ncube has been brought back into the fray after his rivals in the primary elections held last month have been disqualified following submissions at the party head quarters.

Ncube last month dramatically collapsed and had to recover at the hospital after losing the party primary elections to radio personality Omphile Marupi who has since been disqualified after it emerged that he has not served the required five years in the party structures.

According to the party sources, Marupi somewhat escaped the original vetting process and should not have qualified to contest the primaries in the first place.

“We have got advice from the head office that Marupi should not have been allowed to contest the primary elections in the first place and so Minister Ncube could be the new candidate for Gwanda South,” said the source who asked not to be named.

“The party will be making an official statement on the matter soon as deliberations with Marupi and the district concerned are still being finalised,” said the source.

According to the source, the party head office has however, already submitted Ncube’s name in the list of names going for the nomination court set to sit on the the 14th of June.

Ncube has been making numerous shock political come backs after falling from grace. In 2008 he lost the Gwanda parliamentary seat before storming back in 2013 after five years in the political wilderness.

In October last year he was dumped by former President Robert Mugabe in a surprise cabinet reshuffle after enjoying running two Ministries at the same time. He was brought back to life when President Emmerson Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe a few weeks later.

Marupi could not immediately be reached for a comment.