OUTSPOKEN former Norton legislator Temba Mliswa has described Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka as a false prophet who is peddling false promises at international fora.
Mliswa's comments were in response to Masuka's ambitious promise of 35,000 tractors to villages across Zimbabwe, one for each, made at last week's Zimbabwe Industrialisation Conference and Expo (ZICE 2026).
He pointed out Masuka's unfulfilled 2021 promise of 35,000 boreholes, one for each village.
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"The Minister is swiftly cultivating a reputation for ambitious initiatives that lack grounding in feasibility," said Mliswa on X.
"During the 2021 Waternet Symposium for Integrated Water Resource Management, aimed at Sustainable Development in Eastern and Southern Africa, he made another audacious proclamation concerning boreholes.
"Masuka asserted that by 2024, every village and school would possess a borehole, citing an ambitious target of 35,000 boreholes for villages and an additional 9,600 for schools. Regrettably, this promise has not come to fruition, exposing it as mere posturing.
"Now, he pivots to tractors, touting an ambitious plan for 35,000 tractors for villages. Having previously faltered with the water initiative, he now seeks to impress with agricultural machinery! This is nothing short of fanciful thinking.
"If this was a Christian context, one might liken him to a false prophet, a purveyor of grandiloquent fabrications. A Papa of high sounding and false prophecies. Why concoct new fabrications when the previous ones remain unaddressed?"
Now a village head in Shurugwi, Mliswa questioned the proposed mechanisation programme and urged government to concentrate on practical policies that are benficial to farmers such as those involved in tobacco production.
Added Mliswa: "As village heads, we are acutely aware of these realities and as a result advocate for pragmatic solutions.
"We are not impressed by high sounding stories."
