Staff Writer
NORTON – Independent lawmaker Temba Mliswa has predicted victory for Zanu PF presidential candidate Emmerson Mnangagwa but says he would need to form an inclusive cabinet after the polls.
Zimbabwe will vote on Monday, the first elections after the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe. At least 23 presidential hopefuls will contest in the historic polls.
Mliswa told journalists in the capital this week that Mnangagwa would emerge victorious despite recent polls indicating that MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa had marginally gained support in recent months. According to a recent Afro Barometer survey Mnangagwa will garner 40 percent of the vote, close followed by the Chamisa with 37 percent.
“I believe in the leadership of Mnangagwa, I have nothing against Chamisa. Generationally, he is young and so forth and I equally see merit in young people coming through. Whether they are united or ready that’s a different thing altogether. But with what I have seen so far with Mnangagwa, I am very pleased,” Mliswa said.
“I am the chairman of the Mines and Energy Parliamentary Portfolio Committee. It’s a Zanu PF position but he never stopped me from getting it. All I asking for is that he needs to include more people who are not Zanu PF in terms of the government of the country. It’s not only Zanu PF that has got good people. I am not in Zanu PF but I am a better person when it comes to governance.
“They know that, I am their (Zanu PF) former provincial chairman. So on merit he must be able to pick a cabinet which will advance the good of Zimbabweans. That’s where I differ with him. He cannot be a hardliner when people marched for him to be in power. He must also respect that. I think he is still surrounded by Mugabe people so it would be difficult for him to break the ice. I hope that when he gets the legitimacy there would be change.”
The Norton lawmaker will be contesting against Mnangagwa’s special advisor Chris Mutsvangwa together with other candidates for the House of Assembly seat. Since his appointment as chairman of the Mines portfolio committee, he has emerged as a self-styled corruption-buster using his influence on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Hawkish Zanu PF politicians like Vice President Constantino Chiwenga have been de-campaigning Mliswa in Norton saying he had defected from the ruling party and was not answerable to any political outfit.
