Temba Mliswa to contest as an independent candidate

Defiant former Zanu PF Mashonaland West chairperson and Hurungwe West MP Temba Mliswa has said he will contest as an independent candidate in a by-election for his former constituency.

Mliswa and his uncle, former Zanu-PF secretary for administration, were last Wednesday expelled from the party over  charges of gross indiscipline.

The Zanu-PF politburo said bye elections would be held at the two's respective constituencies.

"I'm going to stand as an independent, I have the support of the people and I'm confident that I will win," said Mliswa.

Mliswa said he sees himself bouncing back in Zanu-PF one day after the current dust has settled down.

Mliswa says he has accepted his fate and is finding comfort in Information Minister Jonathan Moyo's political comeback after he was expelled from Zanu-PF in 2005.

Moyo was ejected from Zanu-PF after defying President Robert Mugabe and stood as an independent in parliamentary elections. His constituency had been designated for women candidates in the party.

But he bounced back in 2009 and Mugabe picked him for the second time round as his information minister. Moyo now sits on the party's supreme decision-making body, the politburo.