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Nobleman Runyanga
Correspondent
Following the March 25 and 26, 2023 Zanu PF primary elections, former Central Committee member and incumbent Norton independent legislator, Temba Mliswa, was all over social media with a voice note and a video clip, as well as many tweets criticising the ruling party leadership over the internal poll.
Those who are familiar with the opposition politician know that when he comes out guns blazing, one should not imagine that he is doing it for the good of the country or benefit of some random Zimbabweans.
They know that if he loses or misses out in a deal he is bound to attack those who win or those whom he thinks should have facilitated him to win.
He does this especially in the areas of business or politics.
The world knows that Mliswa was expelled from Zanu PF together with his uncle Didymus Mutasa for indiscipline in February 2015.
The fervour with which he commented on the recent Zanu PF internal polls would leave a Martian visitor convinced that Mliswa is a Zanu PF member who lost during the elections.
He qualified himself to comment on issues relating to Zanu PF, a party of which he is not a member, by invoking his history in the party which he served as Hurungwe District Co-ordinating Committee (DCC) chairman, Hurungwe West legislator and Central Committee member.
He threw in the claim of being a political analyst to buttress his baseless and non-existent right to talk about Zanu PF internal affairs.
The legislator accused the Zanu PF leadership of handing the running of the elections to the Forever Associates Zimbabwe Trust (FAZ), which was far from the truth.
The Zanu PF Commissariat Department led by Dr Mike Bimha was in charge of the exercise from the cell verification stage to the announcing of results following the Politburo’s meticulous verification of the results of the internal democracy exercise.
The Norton legislator accused Government of wrongly trying to push out Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) using the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill citing that they are dabbling in politics.
He questioned why FAZ, which he erroneously described as an NGO, was meddling in Zanu PF elections.
It was evident that Mliswa was commenting emotionally from the point of deep ignorance. FAZ is not an NGO. It is not a secret that FAZ is a Trust.
Contrary to Mliswa’s shameless claims that FAZ is not a Zanu PF affiliate, its website, faztrust.com clearly states that it, in fact, is.
No law precludes Zanu PF from working with its affiliates to achieve a common goal.
It is surprising that when the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) routinely participated in MDC-T and MDC Alliance elective congresses and even played the role of its internal election management body, Mliswa did not raise so much as a finger.
As I was writing this opinion piece, CCC was in the middle of its controversial citizens’ community consensus candidate selection exercise (whatever that means), the party’s strange and anti-democratic substitute for primary elections.
The exercise was contrived to ensure that CCC leader Nelson Chamisa’s cronies sail through while candidates belonging to the Tendai Biti-led Maruva Cabal fall by the wayside.
The exercise was being overseen by past Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition chairperson and incumbent Heal Zimbabwe Trust executive director, Rashid Mahiya, and Mliswa was conspicuous by his deafening silence on this relationship.
Mliswa baselessly accused the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) Deputy Director-General, Rtd Brigadier-General Asher Walter Tapfumaneyi of initiating the involvement of the FAZ Trust in Zanu PF primary elections.
He tried to curry favour with war veterans by accusing Tapfumaneyi of doing nothing about their welfare during his tenure as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Welfare Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and Restrictees under Minister Christopher Mutsvangwa then.
The deputy director was neither the Minister of Finance and Economic Development nor the President at the time.
There was a limit to what he could do for the war veterans as a Permanent Secretary and most war veterans understood him.
Mliswa even tried to drive a wedge between Tapfumaneyi and his boss, Director-General Isaac Moyo.
He gives the impression of being an astute politician, but the way he blamed Tapfumaneyi exposed that he is just an empty-headed loud mouth.
The whole world knows that neither Tapfumaneyi nor members of the FAZ Trust voted in the elections.
Party members who knew their candidates did.
Those who were popular won and those who were not or were taking party members for granted lost. Period.
No need for unnecessary drama and baseless scapegoating.
Those who know Mliswa know that he was fighting for his sister, Zanu PF Mashonaland West Provincial chairperson and the Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister, Mary Mliswa-Chikoka who lost the right to contest for the Hurungwe West seat under Zanu PF during the forthcoming elections.
Internal democracy means that any party member can contest for a ward or constituency and win or lose.
Minister Mliswa-Chikoka is not the only Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister to lose during the primary elections.
In Manicaland Province, Minister Nokuthula Matsikenyere also lost during the same exercise, but she and her colleagues did not throw the toys out of the pram.
To her credit, Minister Mliswa-Chikoka, like her Manicaland counterpart, demonstrated that she knows that the party expects discipline from its members and did not contest her loss or complain about it.
Mliswa-Chikoka’s acceptance of the primary elections results with grace left Mliswa, an opposition independent politician, crying louder than the bereaved.
This was for a reason. As the elections approach and despite boasting of being a political ace, Mliswa is dying for a political home.
The opposition will obviously not accept him.
This leaves him with no choice except to retrace his steps to Zanu PF, but like his friend Saviour Kasukuwere, he thinks that he is too important to approach the party and seek re-admission as his uncle, Mutasa, did.
In the voice note and the video clip he appealed to the President to protect and “reward” losing aspiring candidates like Zvimba West legislator, Ziyambi Ziyambi for bearing the brunt of spearheading controversial legislation on behalf of the President.
Given that he spoke no good about Ziyambi when the latter was still the Zanu PF Mashonaland Provincial Chairman, it is clear that Mliswa intended to use Ziyambi’s case for his own benefit.
He claimed that during the old dispensation, he was arrested over 70 times for supporting President Mnangagwa. It was evident that it was not about Ziyambi or his sister but about himself.
Mliswa is hoping that the President will drive to his Borrowdale residence and beg him to return to the party.
He can easily return to the party on his own volition without drama, but he wants some kind of Presidential endorsement so that he can abuse the President’s name for his own financial gain in various transactions.
Many will remember how he threw in the name of the late former President Mugabe when he seized Ben Bar/Tromps and Noshio Motors from Paul Westwood in December 2009 in the name of the indigenisation programme.
In his selfishness, Mliswa accused Zanu PF and, by extension, the President, of coming up with the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill to target NGOs yet in the same breath, he attempted to speak very lovingly and respectfully of him.
It is clear that Mliswa is just a plain selfish individual who does not care about the President, the party and members of the national security leadership, who were appointed by the President.
In his attempt to appear concerned about the party and its members, he exposed his confusion and selfishness.
For as long as he is not yet prepared to humble himself, follow protocol and seek re-admission into Zanu PF, he should just shut up and concentrate on his failed opposition outfit, the Youth Advocacy for Reform and Democracy (YARD).
Online Reporter