Independent Norton legislator is banking on chaotic candidate selection processes in both the ruling Zanu PF and main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) to retain the seat in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
Responding to a Twitter post in which a CCC aspiring Norton parliamentary candidate Richard Tsvangirai posted his campaign poster, Mliswa questioned if the Nelson Chamisa led movement is going to impose the late Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s son ahead of Samuel Mutemere who represented MDC Alliance in the 2018 polls.
Mliswa said should CCC ditch Samuel Mutemere, he is guaranteed of getting the 7000 votes while also praying for chaos in the Zanu PF primaries to also get votes from disgruntled supporters.
“Can @CCCZimbabwe clarify if they have done primary elections. Seems they just dumped 2018 losing candidate Matemera& chose Richard Tsvangirayi. If that is so I would like to thank you for the 7000 votes, which Matemera got in 2018 & you have now swayed my way.
“I now wait for @ZANUPF_Official primary elections when I will harvest the aggrieved votes of the losing camp. Primary elections are a good hunting ground for independent candidates as most parties cannot handle them peacefully and progressively.
“After varovana pama Primary elections I aggregate the votes of the aggrieved and the cheated add them to those who support me and win,” said Mliswa.
In the 2018 harmonised elections, the current Zanu PF Spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa was trounced by a little known Langton Mutendereki who later withdrew from the race to pave way for the former to contest against Mliswa and Matemera from CCC.
The chaos that ensued and disgruntlement from Mutendereki’s supporters worked to the advantage of Mliswa who emerged the winner with 16 857, while MDC Alliance’s Mutemere was a distant second with 7860. Mutsvangwa polled 4255 votes.
