Mliswa, the Tezvara of our time

Temba Mliswa was recently in The Saturday Herald where he poured out his deeper feelings about his expulsion from Zanu PF. Of interest was his explicit pleading for re-admission into the revolutionary party.

We all read that. He pleaded with Zanu PF to view him as a better devil than Ian Smith who was pardoned despite his gruesome murder of innocent Zimbabweans during the liberation struggle.

Knowing Mliswa's penchant for publicity, I bet my bottom dollar that the interview was conducted at his behest. He has been of late summoning journalists who seem to be in the silly season, for numerous press conferences. However, the substance of those press conferences was not even worth the paper they were offloaded on.

A day after his plea was published; Mliswa summoned another press conference to refute what was attributed to him by The Herald. He shamelessly denied ever pleading for readmission into Zanu PF. He was forced to publicly rebuff after members of his new political family expressed shock over his utterances. Everybody was equally shocked to learn that Mliswa still dream of being party of Zanu PF.

People are aware of the behind-the-scenes agreement he entered into with the MDC-T.  This is the reason why the MDC-T spokesperson, Obert Gutu rushed to defend Mliswa, saying he was misquoted. As usual, blundering MDC-T officials are always misquoted. They still remember vividly Mliswa's authoritative prediction of MDC-T victory in the forthcoming 2018 polls. So they were shocked.  

Now that the journalists have seen for themselves that the person they thought was a newsmaker sells them a dummy and changes like weather. If they are not careful when dealing with Temba, they risk losing their credibility and that of the media houses they belong to.

How can journalists take seriously a person who summons a set of journalists today to tell them this story and wake up the following day and summon another set to refute the same story?

By refuting what he said, Mliswa was attempting to discredit the national paper that has been a reliable source of news for Zimbabweans. In this era of technological advancement, Mliswa will be embarrassed one day after a video clip is played that authenticates what he is refuting.

Temba is not a person to rely on. He behaves in any way to quote publicity. Hopefully this is going to be the last time that real journalists will provide space and air play for him. Let journalism students who are still learning the ropes of covering press conferences attend to him. He is useful in that regard.

Readers might recall a Marondera man, Peter Irimayi Mudavanhu who rose to social media stardom after he attended his daughter's wedding in shorts at Gilmar Gardens in April this year. Mudavanhu became an overnight sensation with his pictures going viral after being created into memes. At one photo shopped scene, Tezvara as he was affectionately known in the social media circles, was shown standing with the front line states leaders.

Tezvara was shown with prominent people like actors, actresses and football players. He was featured in a Manchester United Football team line up. He was also featured on a Zimbabwe dollar coin. He was shown with Mbuya Nehanda, Emmanuel Makandiwa and the unknown soldiers at the Heroes Acre, among others.

These were just but social media creation. Otherwise the man is a learned and good gentleman. However, there are real people in this country who behave like Mudavanhu of the social media. This is exactly how Mliswa behaves. The man likes to hobnob with prominent people and scribes just for publicity. In the process, he does anything to lure that exposure. The interviews and phony press conferences are only meant to get media attention.

Mliswa was recently in the media posing the Tezvara way, with Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) at its headquarters in South Africa. A few weeks before that, he is alleged to have visited former Tanzanian leader, Jakaya Kikwete where he again solicited for pictures with the former president.

All these visits were meant to make people believe he is a prominent politician to reckon with. In Shona they say zundu kugara mudanga hanzi ndave mombewo. There is no way that Kikwete and Malema could deny seeing him. Even a mere Hurungwe farmer can be afforded the same opportunity. The fact remain the same, Mliswa is just a political nonentity.

Roping in and imposing himself on prominent people was his way of survival while he was still in Zanu PF. He hoodwinked potential investors into believing that the buck stops with him. He told them that he knows or is related to whoever mattered for their investment to sail through. In the process he conned many.

In trying to buttress his rebuttal of the Herald story, Mliswa said there was no way he could plead to join Zanu PF when he was labeled a Mnangagwa loyalist. What a lame excuse. He is already trying to court the imagined faction to fight for his readmission.

Unfortunately Zanu PF does not need a divisive element like him who already wants to join it on a faction ticket. He alleged that the Mujuru group was working with the so-called G40. He therefore tries to present himself to the other imagined faction as a clean man who is sympathetic to them. No Mliswa, you are not wanted in Zanu PF, better you transform your YARD into a political entity.