LOCAL government Minister Ignatius Chombo leads a pack of corrupt cabinet ministers and top Zanu PF officials now running the ruling party, former Mashonaland West provincial chairman Temba Mliswa said Thursday.
The axed Hurungwe West lawmaker said President Robert Mugabe has a soft spot “for corrupt Chombo”.
“You cannot talk of corruption in Zimbabwe without mentioning Chombo, Obert Mpofu and Saviour Kasukuwere; it will be a misnomer. Chombo is the epitome of corruption.
“I joined Zanu PF 20 years ago because I subscribed to its principles and values but the party that I joined is long gone. It is not there anymore,” said Mliswa.
“I was correct when I said the party has been hijacked by gay-gangsters because the gay movement has lots of money and the likes of Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere cannot absolve themselves of their links with this dark movement.
In fact the expulsion is well received because I would not want to be associated with these people,” Mliswa said.
Mliswa accused Moyo and Kasukuwere of benefiting from American money that “they are using to build houses with studios”.
“I would like to challenge them to account for that money; it is from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),” he said adding he was aware the two cabinet ministers were suing him for the allegations “and I am ready; there are people ready to testify in-camera”.
“At one time I even told President Mugabe that he is a very forgiving man; he has a soft spot for Chombo despite his corrupt tendencies. The President laughed but I meant every word,” said the former national football team fitness trainer.
CIA agent? … Saviour Kasukuwere.
Chombo has in the past been accused of amassing vast tracts of urban land through corrupt means and Mliswa tore into the Zanu PF secretary for administration along with many others whom he said have multiple farms under a program called “warehousing”.
“I wonder how Zanu PF leaders think Zimbabweans do not understand issues; they engage in what is known as warehousing in which they have multiple farms but only one registered in their name.
“Then others are registered in the names of relatives-some of whom do not even have bank accounts but you see new farming equipment on the farms. People question were this capacity is coming from, we are aware that the leaders own these farms,” he said.
While government has blamed western imposed sanctions for the economic collapse, critics of President Mugabe’s rule have pointed to corruption and bad governance as the causes.
“When governance fails everything goes wrong and we have failed in this regard. Zanu PF has failed and the people know that. The opposition will point to the ruling party’s failure and as a party Zanu PF has nothing to campaign on,” said Mliswa.
The short tempered Mliswa spent years in the UK, crisscrossing between Harare and London, at times spending months at the Jameson Hotel in Harare together with his friend Felix Sapawo.
Rumours of his links to Zanu PF led to him being barred from entering the UK in the early 2000s after he had an altercation with an immigration officer.
