Zivhu guns for Mliswa’s Norton seat

By Bridget Mananavire

Zanu PF Masvingo provincial finance secretary Killer Zivhu has vowed to vie for Norton independent MP Temba Mliswa’s seat in the 2018 parliamentary elections, after a bitter war of words erupted between the two.

This comes after Mliswa declared war on Zivhu, accusing him of swindling Norton residents of hundreds of thousands of dollars in both land sales and development fees through his housing development project in the town’s Galloway suburb.

Mliswa claimed over 200 Norton residents had approached him complaining that Zivhu, who is also the chairperson for Chivi Rural District Council, was withholding their title deeds for properties they bought from him.

A furious Zivhu said Mliswa was just a “barking baboon” trying to seek attention, adding the complainants failed to pay for their stands, which were subsequently repossessed using proper channels.

“I want to contest…Mliswa in Norton, if my party Zanu PF agrees. I have settled over 1 500 families there and plan to settle over 3 000 families,” Zivhu told a news conference at his offices in Harare on Friday.

“Mliswa…whom we view as a barking baboon in the hills of Norton seeking relevance, …is one of those who can sell his mother in order for him to appear on television or in a newspaper,” he said.

“And it is wrong for Mliswa to accuse us of swindling people of their money,” he said, adding that the people were sold the stands on a “humanitarian and charity basis”.

“Mliswa was deported from the UK for credit card fraud. Mliswa made people get deported on arrival at Gatwick after they had paid him money, the evidence is there,” Zivhu claimed.

“Surprisingly, he is blasting everyone in this country. He says good things about (former VP Joice) Mujuru and then blasts her, President (Robert) Mugabe, Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere, says good things about MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, tomorrow he is blasting Tsvangirai, everyone in this country.

“Mliswa, politics is not like training people in sports where you are an expert as a trainer, where you make noise.”

Zivhu claimed he still managed to develop the Galloway project even after his Zimbabwe Amalgamated Housing Association (Zaha) lost significant sums in the now-defunct Allied Bank. Daily News