INDEPENDENT legislator for Norton, Temba Mliswa has launched an indirect attack at President Emmerson Mnangagwa, describing the country’s dire economic situation as resembling a bus with no driver.
He was addressing a group of residents in his constituency recently.
The outspoken lawmaker said the situation in the country was so desperate that citizens now survived by God’s grace.
“I am here to inform you that the current situation in the country is terrible. What I came to inform you is the situation is horrible…” said the former Zanu PF Mashonaland West chair.
He added, “We might sit here all day lying to ourselves but the situation is horrible and I also do not have the remedies to the country’s situation.
“It is a bus without a driver going nowhere, whether it will arrive or it will be involved in an accident, we never know. We are only surviving because of God’s grace.”
Zimbabwe is in the throes of its worst economic crisis since the 2008 hyper inflationary period.
The situation is now dominated by acute fuel, power and cash shortages while prices of basic commodities and services are now beyond the reach of many.
In his address, Mliswa blasted government for offering payment to tobacco farmers in RTGS dollars whose value has rapidly fallen since Mnangagwa took over as the country’s leader 2017.
“Food issues are now the major problems in the country,” he said.
“Tobacco farmers are the major players in the survival of the people but these farmers are neglected because they were promised to be paid 50% in foreign currency but where is that money they were promised!
“That’s daylight robbery. I was at parliament recently where I asked the Minister of Finance that what kind of a government are they which robs its citizens because you claim that Bond notes and the US dollar are equivalent and after that, you introduce Bond Note. You wonder what is really going on.
“The government is ill-treating its citizens, robbing them and they actually expect investors to invest in Zimbabwe. Who would want to invest in such a country?”
Mliswa has often avoided direct attacks on President Mnangagwa despite claims he held independent thoughts.
