Former Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial chairperson and Norton legislator Temba Mliswa has urged the ruling party to focus more on reaching out to former party loyalists and unite factions than making noise over former opposition opportunists stampeding to join the movement.
Mliswa's remarks comes in the wake of a gathering on Saturday where former opposition activists were paraded before the Zanu PF leader President Emmerson Mnangagwa in an event dubbed Huyai Kumusha Come Home Buyanini Ekhaya Muze Kumunzi.
Posting on Twitter, the outspoken Mliswa said 'opportunists' joining the liberation movement do not make a difference as they are only seeking survival.
"ZANU PF concern shouldn't be about wooing members from the opposition but uniting its splintered factions inside& outside the party. These opportunists jumping in don't make a difference. The reality is that they are a handful but the exiled and expelled ZANU members are more.
"The former opposition members are merely opportunists seeking for survival, otherwise they have no political capital to add to the party. They have no credibility and are out for their stomachs. The party should go after those factions that have people and are currently ostracized.
"Currently there are many who are in the party but don't believe in it as it is constituted. Those differences should be ironed out. It makes much electoral difference. Camouflaging internal rifts through PR events with a handful of hungry opposition members isn't enough," said Mliswa.
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He said the party should extend an olive branch former members who were fired as they went out with their followers.
"The party should seek to get back the likes of Kasukuwere, Mzembi, the fired Chairpersons etc. Those people went out nevanhu vavo and their return makes more impact than these opportunists. It's a fact that as it is the party isn't in the best of states. Many have been expelled from ZANU before. Lacoste& G40 ganged up with lies& I was expelled as part of Gamatox nana Mai Mujuru. G40 then kicked out ED and Lacoste before turning tables and kicking G40. All these frictions have emptied the party, weakening it. Heal those rifts!
"Mzembi was pro-ED as Masvingo Chair; the likes of Daniel Shumba too. Yet they are gone. The President may want them back but some hangers-on won't advance the idea for fear of losing seats and positions. But for the party that is the only sustainable way. I still have a relationship with Mash West people because of my legacy there such that I orient those in the party about it. Imagine if my kind was back mobilising with Chipanga, Mashayamombe, Kasukuwere, Jabulani Sibanda etc. Our zeistgeist is missing and should be revive," he said.
