Take Mliswa, Jabulani Sibanda on the house

The MDC-T has indicated that it would take on board the sacked former war veterans Chairman, Jabulani Sibanda and former Zanu PF Mashonaland West Chairman Mr Temba Mliswa.

The MDC-T believes that the two Zanu PF castoffs would add value to the beleaguered party. It is wondrous how throw-outs can add value. The duo has since expired and if they were soccer players, they would only qualify to play for boozers' clubs. It is only in these clubs that such players can probably add value.

Thus, the MDC-T has reduced itself into a political boozers' club where former players like Jabu and Temba can win a jersey. However, a boozers' club will never contest in any local, regional and international tournaments. This is probably the reason why the MDC-T is ever talking of boycotting elections. They know they have gone past their sale-by-date.

The MDC-T says Sibanda has a great mobilising prowess and it would want to capitalise on that talent. Sibanda never mobilised anyone. The MDC-T is misled if it thinks Sibanda was solely responsible for the one million-man-march. We later learnt that the march was the brainchild of Cde Chinotimba, his deputy then.

The MDC-T has been slating Sibanda, accusing him of masterminding violent campaigns across the country. It is surprising that he has suddenly turned a democrat and great commissar. This is just but a microcosm of the confusion that is within the MDC-T.

Sibanda is a violent person who was only tamed by the revolutionary party. If Zanu PF were MDC-T, Sibanda would have done awful things. He has rebellious traits that dovetail well with the militant MDC-T. It is that viciousness that the MDC-T admired in Sibanda and subsequently led it to court him. Violence is in the DNA of the MDC-T and  the party has always admired violent people in other parties.

The MDC-T can take Sibanda and the equally violent Mliswa at its own peril. Probably the duet will assist them in their attempt to cause disorder in the country. Tsvangirai is on record vowing that his party would escalate crisis in Zimbabwe. The calibre of the twosome is ideal for that project.

The MDC-T also says that Mliswa has support in Hurungwe and that he would assist the party in wrestling the Hurungwe West constituency. This is a myopic thinking, to say the least. Mliswa was in the contest for the constituency in June 10 and lost dismally. Which support is the MDC-T talking of here?

We know that the MDC-T voted for Mliswa and so did some discontented and gullible members of Zanu PF who had been duped into believing that Mliswa is their god. Even small parties voted for him. Americans generously poured money in the constituency to make sure that Mliswa retained the seat.
Notwithstanding such support from all angles, Zanu PF drubbed Mliswa.  What chances will he have when he will contest as MDC-T candidate? They year 2018 is there to give us the answers.

History has taught us that some people do not learn from history. People do not vote for an individual but for a party. Many other people left Zanu PF with a delusion that they would be followed by a multitude. They looked back only to see that they are being followed by their spouses and children. We have the likes Dr Simba Makoni, Dumiso Dabengwa, Edgar Tekere and Margret Dongo, among others. They thought the support they enjoyed while in Zanu PF would follow them.

Mliswa will not go to MDC-T with any supporters because he does not own them. The electorate of today cannot be easily hoodwinked. They are not like flies, which follow a corpse into a grave.

In the story that announced the MDC-T's plan to admit the two, Mliswa commented: "There are things I do not agree with in Zanu PF; things like corruption which I have seen unabated and I have seen violence which is detrimental to the society."

It is on record that Mliswa is a very corrupt person. He extorted willy-nilly knowing very well that he had the evil backing of his uncle, Mr Didymus Mutasa. It is too early for the MDC-T to forget that Mliswa was in the limelight for extorting a businessperson, Conrad Billy Rautenbach . He demanded $165 million from the businessman to help facilitate investment. Some countries actually pay investors some incentives for their investment. At a time when Zimbabwe desperately needs foreign direct investment, the likes of Mliswa are scaring them away through such bribery demands. How does the MDC-T intend to lure investors when it takes on board people who are an albatross to investment?