Moyo, Kasukuwere to sue Mliswa and NewsDay for US$80 million
HARARE – The fierce infighting in Zanu PF continues unabated with Information Minister Jonathan Moyo and Environment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere reportedly set to slap Hurungwe West Zanu PF MP Temba Mliswa and the NewsDay newspaper with lawsuits totalling US$80 million for defamation.
Mliswa came out guns blazing on Monday to rubbish state media reports that insinuated he was a spy for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
During a press conference in Harare, Mliswa blamed Minister Moyo for feeding state media journalists with the reports. He claimed Moyo, Kasukuwere and Zanu PF spin doctor Psychology Maziwisa were actually “gay gangsters” who were on the payroll of the CIA to infiltrate and destabilize Zanu PF.
Harare lawyer Jonathan Samkange has already confirmed that he has been instructed by Moyo and Kasukuwere to file separate lawsuits against Mliswa and Alpha Media Holdings, the publishers of NewsDay.
Moyo and Kasukuwere will each demand US$20 million from Mliswa and NewsDay bringing the total to US$80 million.
“I shall be filing soon on behalf of the two ministers who feel that their rights and image in society has been denigrated by the series of articles that came out quoting Cde Mliswa,” Samkange is quoted saying.
“The articles were false, defamatory and malicious in the sense that the two are not ‘gay’ and the President could not have possibly appointed them if they were gay.
“Don’t forget the President regards gays as worse than dogs and pigs. To suggest that these two Cabinet ministers who are also members of the Politburo and Central Committee are gay is seriously insulting and intended to humiliate the two.”
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party is beset by fierce infighting over his successor. Two dominant factions, one led by Vice President Joice Mujuru and the other by Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa are battling to position themselves ahead of the elective congress in December.
Mliswa, who holds a key position as provincial chairman, is thought to belong to the Mujuru faction while Moyo is aligned to the Mnangagwa faction. There is a growing feeling in the party that Moyo abusing his control of the state media to fight political battles for his faction, which has lost a string of key party elections.
