Plot To Oust Mash West Minister Mary Mliswa As Tensions Rise in Zanu PF




Mary Chikoka Mliswa
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DAGGERS have been drawn against Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs minister, Mary Mliswa-Chikoka, and her acolytes accused of plotting to form a a new political party.

The minister is also Hurungwe West legislator after replacing her brother, Temba Mliswa, who is now independent Norton legislator, with whom she is now accused of planning to set up a new political outfit.

The said party is expected to field a candidate to challenge President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the 2023 harmonised elections.

The plot was exposed in a damning report compiled by a board of inquiry made up of Zanu PF Veterans of the Liberation Struggle League (ZVLSL), seen by NewZimbabwe.com this week.

The report accuses Mliswa-Chikoka of imposing her preferred candidates to take up posts in Hurungwe district structures, who were elected against party rules and standing orders.

The restructuring exercise done at Mliswa-Chikoka’s behest earlier in the year, usurped the authority of the district coordinating committee (DCC) and was unsanctioned, the report says.

“It is a finding of the inquiry that this is an admission by Hon Mliswa-Chikoka to unilaterally initiating and/or instructing others to undertake restructuring of party organs in Hurungwe West. This, the Hon MP undertook without due authority from the Provincial Commissariat Department, which in itself is an unconstitutional action,” the report reads.

“It is evident that Hon Mliswa-Chikoka sought to change the leadership structure of the party in Hurungwe West, by removing and displacing elected leaders with persons of her choice. She derived authority for such action from her position as constituency MP and as deputy secretary for finance, Mashonaland West province,” it reads.

“It goes without saying that her position as Minister of State for Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs added the intimidating aura she exerted on Hurungwe West. The structures of the party were clearly illegally altered and tampered with at the instigation of Cde Mliswa-Chikoka, effectively creating parallel structures in the constituency.”

The report further states Mliswa-Chikoka justified her action of conducting an unsanctioned restructuring exercise on that she was an MP and Zanu PF provincial member in which she is deputy treasurer.

“The constitution does not allow an MP to use the legislative position to carry out the functions of the DCC of overseeing and supervising the restructuring of cells, branches and districts. The presence of Hon Mliswa-Chikoka in the leadership ranks at both provincial and district levels is demonstrative of a disruptive and untamed individualistic trait which brooches neither criticism, censure or instruction.”

The inquiry panel warned Zanu PF to be wary of Mliswa-Chikoka and her brother Temba as the duo was fronting a grand plot to destroy the party and launch a new political party.

“Mliswa-Chikoka seeks to consolidate her power and as well as build an unassailable power block for yet an as yet unknown political entity, which entity has political intentions to, at some future date, influence the political landscape of both Zanu PF and the government,” the war veterans’ report alleged.

“The exit of the first Mliswa sibling (Temba) from Zanu PF and the Hurungwe West constituency was an obvious set-back to this plan, and the corrective action was taken in making certain to return a Mliswa into both structures of the party and into Hurungwe West constituency.”

The inquiry panel, chaired by Rachel Chakazamba, said it was convinced that “this ostensibly formless plan is anchored on the capture of one constituency in Hurungwe, to be employed as a springboard from which to capture the entirety of the district.”

The minister who was not a Zanu PF member prior to the 2018 elections, hastily joined the party, bought a home in the constituency and was fast-tracked to position of district chairlady to ensure her eligibility to stand as MP in record time.

Added the report: “All this was done in the conceited effort to maintain a hold on Hurungwe West by the Mliswa siblings, thus re-establishing the ‘power-block’ concept recognised in this inquiry. This inquiry would like to alert the party to the danger inherent; a clandestine plan to subvert the party to this shadowy organisation which is unravelling slowly, but with certainty.”

The inquiry panel recommended Mliswa-Chikoka’s immediate suspension from all party activities alongside provincial deputy commissar Nigel Murambiwa and Silas Chimbiro.

The findings of the probe were recently presented to acting Zanu PF Mashonaland West chairman, Abia Mujeri.

“Yes, l got the report. Its an internal matter which we will deliberate on. If it means taking it up to national level we will do that,” Mujeri said.

Contacted for comment, Mliswa-Chikoka was defiant and cryptic.

“As MP for Hurungwe West my role is to represent people there in Parliament. I don’t manipulate anything politically. Those who went for that so-called inquiry had sinister motives, clearly. Kumagumo kune nyaya! (There shall be stories to tell at the end of it all,” she said.

Efforts to get comment from Temba Mliswa proved fruitless at the time of publishing.

The probe team also comprised Anthony Zunzanyika, Mike Dube, Elizabeth Shanesa, Getrude Dube, Stephen Karenga and Richard Ziki, who was an ex-officio member by virtue of being Hurungwe DCC chairman.