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Mr Mliswa

Mashonaland West Bureau
FORMER Zanu-PF Mashonaland West provincial chairman Temba Mliswa says he is ready and willing to retrace his footsteps to the ruling party. In an exclusive interview with The Herald yesterday, Mliswa said the lifting of all expulsions and suspensions after the 2014 Congress by the Central Committee makes him eligible to rejoin the party.

Mliswa said he was ready to rejoin the ruling party once all formalities have been done.
“The Central Committee Resolution of the party which was adopted at the just ended Extraordinary Congress stipulates that all affected party members should be reinstated into the party and I am one of those affected,” he said.

“As of now I am only waiting to receive a formal letter of reinstatement from the party leadership and I become a member again.” He said after being fired from the party, it was the responsibility of the same party to write to him readmitting him to the party. Contacted for comment, provincial vice chairman Cde Keith Guzah referred all questions to chairman Cde Ziyambi Ziyambi who was not reachable yesterday.

Mliswa has been coy about his links with Zanu-PF with some on social media challenging him to declare his allegiance. He has, however, insisted that he was an independent Member of Parliament who had allegiance neither to Zanu-PF nor the opposition.

The social media hype heightened last week when Mliswa attended the Zanu-PF Extraordinary Congress with some viewing it as a precursor to his return to the ruling party. Mliswa was the first Zanu-PF provincial chairman to receive a vote of no confidence in the run up to the 2014 Congress on allegations of cavorting with former Vice President Joice Mujuru.

He was subsequently fired and recalled as Hurungwe West MP together with Mr Didymus Mutasa. He was back in Parliament on an Independent ticket after winning the Norton Constituency by-election. Cde Guzah expressed optimism of a resounding Zanu-PF victory in the 2018 harmonised elections under the leadership of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“We have registered over 400 000 voters in the province and we are expecting a landslide victory in next year’s elections,” he said. However, we have some of our members who are yet to register in areas such as Siakobvu and Sanyati which were not accessible due to transport challenges.” He said the party has since approached the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to consider revisiting the areas.