News / National
Professor Moyo tells Mliswa to step down
03 Apr 2014 at 20:59hrs | Views
PROFESSOR Jonathan Moyo, the Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister, says Zanu-PF Mashonaland West provincial chairman Temba Mliswa must resign his position for admitting that he belongs to a Zanu-PF faction.
Prof Moyo, who is also Zanu-PF politburo member, said the admission by the Hurungwe West legislator went against the party's constitution, ideology and policies.
Mliswa accused Prof Moyo of abusing the public media to settle political scores - apparently stung by a report in Chronicle that showed how he had tried to extort $165 million from the controversial businessman, Conrad Billy Rautenbach, for introducing him to ministers.
But Prof Moyo insists Mliswa must explain his role in the cash-for-access scandal.
The minister blasted: "This comrade is out of order. His incoherent ranting is equivalent to that of a philandering husband who when his wife notices just before they go to bed that he's wearing underwear he adorned by mistake after having a quickie with his small house on his way home wonders aloud exclaiming ‘who put this underwear on me?'
"The comrade has clearly been caught with his hands in the till and he thinks he can cover up his corruption by seeking refuge in what he declares to be his faction against what he imagines to be a rival faction."
Mliswa claimed responsibility for "taking Rautenbach to every high ranking official he knows today in government" and "opening doors for him", which he says should have been rewarded with shareholding in various companies the business tycoon owns, including the Chisumbanje ethanol project.
Among the ministers he introduced to the millionaire tycoon, Mliswa claimed, were Didymus Mutasa, the Minister of State in the Office of the President, and the then Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, now in charge of Transport. But he says Rautenbach, who paid him anything between $5,000 and $10,000 for several months in consultancy fees before discontinuing, went back on the unwritten "gentleman's agreement". Mliswa says Mutasa, who is also his uncle, facilitated a $165 million out-of-court settlement for him with Rautenbach - but Mutasa denies any business dealings with the two men.
Newspaper revelations of Mliswa's attempts to gain the huge sums from Rautenbach led him to claim that Prof Moyo was behind the leak. He said there were factions in Zanu-PF and associated Prof Moyo with Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Justice Minister.
Prof Moyo denies being in any faction, and says now that Mliswa had admitted membership of a faction, he was not fit to chair the party's Mashonaland West executive.
"The comrade's self indulgent claim that only the public media is uncovering corruption and that there is a factional agenda to the coverage can only be believed by the walking dead among us," Prof Moyo said.
"If the comrade is still capable of sobering up I'm sure he'll see how wayward he has gone and hopefully come to his sense and get down from the money helicopter and stand firm on his feet because he is a chairman of one of our 10 provinces and he needs to live up to his responsibilities within the party without throwing mud all over the place in defence of racketeering and corruption in pursuit of some $165 million.
"Just because he has gone out and declared that he belongs to a faction in Zanu-PF does not mean we're all like him and belong to factions. He's definitely in a class of his own as exemplified by his confirmation that he had helicopter rides for which he expected to be paid millions of US dollars. Who else out there and what faction can boast of that corruption feat?"
Prof Moyo said Mliswa has been "posing as a champion against corruption in Parliament making all sorts of scurrilous allegations of corruption against some government ministers, but nobody has accused him of speaking from the podium of a faction."
He added: "He has let the cat out of the bag about his factionalism and he now must be told that having openly declared that he belongs to a faction, he does not qualify to retain his position as chairman of Mashonaland West Province because factionalism is against Zanu-PF constitution, ideology and policies."
Prof Moyo, who is also Zanu-PF politburo member, said the admission by the Hurungwe West legislator went against the party's constitution, ideology and policies.
Mliswa accused Prof Moyo of abusing the public media to settle political scores - apparently stung by a report in Chronicle that showed how he had tried to extort $165 million from the controversial businessman, Conrad Billy Rautenbach, for introducing him to ministers.
But Prof Moyo insists Mliswa must explain his role in the cash-for-access scandal.
The minister blasted: "This comrade is out of order. His incoherent ranting is equivalent to that of a philandering husband who when his wife notices just before they go to bed that he's wearing underwear he adorned by mistake after having a quickie with his small house on his way home wonders aloud exclaiming ‘who put this underwear on me?'
"The comrade has clearly been caught with his hands in the till and he thinks he can cover up his corruption by seeking refuge in what he declares to be his faction against what he imagines to be a rival faction."
Mliswa claimed responsibility for "taking Rautenbach to every high ranking official he knows today in government" and "opening doors for him", which he says should have been rewarded with shareholding in various companies the business tycoon owns, including the Chisumbanje ethanol project.
Among the ministers he introduced to the millionaire tycoon, Mliswa claimed, were Didymus Mutasa, the Minister of State in the Office of the President, and the then Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, now in charge of Transport. But he says Rautenbach, who paid him anything between $5,000 and $10,000 for several months in consultancy fees before discontinuing, went back on the unwritten "gentleman's agreement". Mliswa says Mutasa, who is also his uncle, facilitated a $165 million out-of-court settlement for him with Rautenbach - but Mutasa denies any business dealings with the two men.
Newspaper revelations of Mliswa's attempts to gain the huge sums from Rautenbach led him to claim that Prof Moyo was behind the leak. He said there were factions in Zanu-PF and associated Prof Moyo with Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Justice Minister.
Prof Moyo denies being in any faction, and says now that Mliswa had admitted membership of a faction, he was not fit to chair the party's Mashonaland West executive.
"The comrade's self indulgent claim that only the public media is uncovering corruption and that there is a factional agenda to the coverage can only be believed by the walking dead among us," Prof Moyo said.
"If the comrade is still capable of sobering up I'm sure he'll see how wayward he has gone and hopefully come to his sense and get down from the money helicopter and stand firm on his feet because he is a chairman of one of our 10 provinces and he needs to live up to his responsibilities within the party without throwing mud all over the place in defence of racketeering and corruption in pursuit of some $165 million.
"Just because he has gone out and declared that he belongs to a faction in Zanu-PF does not mean we're all like him and belong to factions. He's definitely in a class of his own as exemplified by his confirmation that he had helicopter rides for which he expected to be paid millions of US dollars. Who else out there and what faction can boast of that corruption feat?"
Prof Moyo said Mliswa has been "posing as a champion against corruption in Parliament making all sorts of scurrilous allegations of corruption against some government ministers, but nobody has accused him of speaking from the podium of a faction."
He added: "He has let the cat out of the bag about his factionalism and he now must be told that having openly declared that he belongs to a faction, he does not qualify to retain his position as chairman of Mashonaland West Province because factionalism is against Zanu-PF constitution, ideology and policies."
Source - chronicle
