…as Mliswa takes the war to parliament
zwnews.com Political Reporter Simba Moyo
‘Revenge is sour’.. a revenge war has broken out between ZANU PF’s Killer Zivhu and the Norton Member of Parliament Temba Mliswa.
Zivhu says he would wrestle the constituency away from Mliswa for allegedly labelling him a thief.
Zivhu told a press briefing in Harare recently that he had no intention of contesting for the Norton seat, but was driven into contemplating doing so as a result of Mliswa’s attacks on him, and has decided to teach him a lesson by taking the seat away from him in the coming elections.
Mliswa had accused Zivhu of swindling people thousands of money in stands scams.
Be that as it may, during question time, Mliswa has since taken the war to parliament, he recently told the house that land barons who scam people of their hard earned cash, local authorities of revenue, were on the increase of which one of them being Zivhu, whom he said needs to be dealt with.
He asked the Deputy Minister of Local Government Hon Peter Chingosho what the ministry was doing with such people. “Land barons are on the increase, they swindle people, defy council by not paying while collecting money from home seekers.
“What are you doing about this issue so that they are brought to book? People like Killer Zivhu is one of them, what are you doing so that you can stop them and make them behave?” he told parliament.
Hon Chingosho responded that land barons are illegal, adding that a number of them who have been identified have been arrested and are currently facing criminal charges before the courts.
The Norton MP went on to say he had written a letter to the ministry indicating that Zivhu was one of the land barons, but no action was taken. The Deputy Speaker of the House then told Mliswa that a ministry is an institution and may need some time to resolve an issue.
“They will not resolve the issue on the day they have received your letter. They need to investigate and look into the matter and address it,” she said.
Mliswa had also been claiming among other things, that Zivhu was withholding title deeds from buyers of stands he had sold them. But Zivhu recently told a press briefing in Harare that the buyers failed to pay, to the extent that he had to repossess his land, added that he did so using the lawful channels.
Could this be a way to settle political scores remains a debate for another day and only time will tell! However, the issue of land barons had been one of the country’s major challenges, people had been losing hard earned cash to these unscrupulous elements, who take advantage of the current housing backlog in the Zimbabwe.
Corruption in housing stands had been alleged, with some indicating that the barons are thriving on being connected to top government officials, even from the Ministry of Local Government itself. Some claim that there has been little arrests of the culprits because of political connections.
