Contest by-elections, Mliswa urges MDC

via Contest by-elections, Mliswa urges MDC – DailyNews Live 5 April 2015 by Wendy Muperi

HARARE – Former Zanu PF bigwig and Hurungwe West legislator Temba Mliswa says opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC should contest the parliamentary by-elections scheduled for June 10 as the party had an excellent chance to win them.

At least 14 seats are up for grabs in two months’ time after the recent expulsion from Parliament of MDC legislators who defected to the party’s Renewal Team off-shoot.

The MDC has said that it will not contest any election until the Zanu PF government and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission align all the country’s laws to the new constitution.

But Mliswa told the Daily News last week that the opposition party’s decision not to participate in the by-elections would not help the fight for democracy in Zimbabwe, as it allowed the ruling party soft victories.

“Electoral reforms are something I believe we need to work on, but I don’t believe in things stopping while we do that. If you do that you are allowing some people to simply get away with murder,” he said.

Among the electoral reforms that the MDC is demanding are a credible, transparent, verifiable and accurate voters’ roll that is “divorced from the shambolic” one which was managed by the Registrar General’s office.

This is not the first time that the MDC has threatened to boycott elections in protest at the uneven election playing ground prevailing in the country, although it has later changed its position in the past.

The outspoken Mliswa has also predicted that President Robert Mugabe and the ruling party stand no chance in the 2018 national elections.

Pointing to the ruling party’s failure to fulfil its 2013 electoral promises, Mliswa said the MDC would emerge victorious in the 2018 ballot even if Zanu PF employed “its tried and tested dirty tactics”.

“There is going to be a paradigm shift, not regime change. 2018 is exciting, the electorate is disgruntled… I would like to think that although the MDC is said to be weak, it can still land a soft victory.

“While in Zanu PF they will be saying he belongs to this faction or that, for MDC the message is clear…they (Zanu PF) failed to deliver… Zanu PF has lost the plot,” Mliswa, who is set to challenge Zanu PF as an independent candidate for Hurungwe West in the forthcoming by-elections said.

His remarks dovetail with those of fearless former war veterans’ leader Jabulani Sibanda and a host of other liberation war luminaries who have predicted the downfall of the faction riddled Zanu PF.

Mliswa, the first victim of Zanu PF’s brutal factional purges, said his former party had lost the plot by handing two key portfolios, that of administration and the commissariat to Ignatius Chombo and Savior Kasukuwere respectively — two people he said had no traceable history in the party.

“There is no consolidation of power in the party. You talk of two key positions in the party, the commissariat and secretariat belonging to people who have never been to the struggle, who are power hungry and vindictive”.

He also said most of the Zanu PF MPs were going to lose the elections because they had abandoned the people.

“Most of these MPs in Zanu PF are on their way out because they don’t serve the people. A two-thirds majority doesn’t mean anything if you don’t work for the people”.

And spilling some Zanu PF beans, Mliswa alleged that some ministers such as Ignatius Chombo (Local Government Rural and Urban Planning), Obert Mpofu (Transport and Communication) and Kasukuwere (Environment) could not account for their vast wealth.

“There are two important things, economy and governance…. He (Chombo) forgot to say that he … he has plundered the country’s wealth mercilessly without a conscience and you think a leadership like that can win the 2018 election?

“Kasukuwere who plundered the youth money, who today is exporting elephants, and indigenisation is in a mess … so the president shifted him from that ministry. If he was doing such a great job in that ministry, why didn’t he stay there?

“But they are the guys who are now running the party and for me it was a blessing that I was actually expelled,” Mliswa charged.

Mliswa said corrupt politicians were taking advantage of Mugabe’s forgiving spirit to amass wealth at the expense of the poor majority.

“I even told the president himself that he had a very soft spot for Comrade Chombo and he laughed… The guys are in power because they have been forgiven and they forget that,” he said.

He described his ejection from Zanu PF as a blessing in disguise, adding that his stint as a Zanu PF MP had made him realise that he was “in the wrong party” and that his mission lay outside the ruling party.

“For me, it was quite a blessing in disguise that I was fired, I can’t associate with an institution that has no compassion. Expulsion is well received. When I was with Zanu PF as an MP, I tried to push for certain things that didn’t happen. I believe God is using me to send a message, especially to Zanu PF that the electorate has its own thinking,” he said.

Mliswa said he was confident that he would win the Hurungwe West by-election without even convening the constituency for rallies as his works spoke volumes.

“I will win resoundingly even if they rig. People of Hurungwe love me. I’m glad that the constituency is saying if there is anyone who is going to get 20 000 votes it is you. I am not holding meetings because I don’t want violence.”