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Harare Bureau
Zanu-PF Mashonaland West provincial chairperson and Hurungwe West MP Cde Temba Mliswa yesterday thumped his nose at the revolutionary party when he openly insisted he would continue receiving money from US aid agencies against a party directive.Mliswa also raised “scandalous” allegations against three Zanu-PF Politburo members, Professor Jonathan Moyo, Cde Saviour Kasukuwere and Cde Patrick Zhuwawo whom he claimed were “gay gangsters.”

Prof Moyo is Media, Information and Broadcasting Services Minister while Cde Kasukuwere is Environment Water and Climate Minister.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and Leader of Government Business in Parliament, told the National Assembly last week that legislators should not seek aid from foreign embassies and governments, especially those hostile to Zimbabwe.

Mliswa told journalists in Harare yesterday that there was nothing wrong with receiving money from the US. He said he would accept it if it was offered for development projects in his constituency.

He claimed that reports linking him to the US secret agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, were preposterous in that while he had sought aid from the embassy, his application had been turned down.

Mliswa said the Politburo had not been doing enough to report about its meetings to the Central Committee as required by the party constitution, but appeared to backtrack when pressed to substantiate the claim.

He admitted that he took suspected CIA spy, Eric Little, to meet local government leaders in Hurungwe West in his bid to secure funding from the US.

“I am not naïve. The Americans and the British have been running programmes in Zimbabwe for the past 34 years. Why has that become an issue now? I am a legislator and one of my roles is to represent my people,” said Mliswa.

During the Press conference, Mliswa read to journalists several text messages that he exchanged with Little in his bid to secure the diplomat’s visit to his constituency.

He said allegations being levelled against him were part of a grand plan to smear him ahead of Zanu-PF’s elective congress in December this year.

He said Prof Moyo, Minister Kasukuwere and Zhuwawo were “gay gangsters” being paid by the CIA.

“I will prove it. It’s the whole crew. We will not allow the party to be run by gay gangsters. They are constantly loaded with money because the CIA funds them,” he said.

The trio was not available for comment last night.

Mliswa claimed that some politicians from his province were fighting him because he was not their preferred candidate for the post of chairman.

“They don’t control the province. They have tried a vote of no confidence but they have failed,” he said.

He also attacked the state owned media, particularly The Herald, which he said was being used by Prof Moyo whom he said had influence in other private media.

Mliswa said when some senior party officials met ambassadors from Western countries, it was interpreted as government engagement but the same did not happen when he and other MPs did the same.

He claimed that people disliked him because he was “courageous” to tell the truth.

Mliswa is one of the 12 MPs known as the “dirty dozen” who have been accused of wining and dining with US embassy officials despite frosty relations between Harare and Washington.

However, the 12 MPs who have been named as receiving direct US grants have since denied the allegations.

This was after they were invited for a handover of a $90,000 US grant by US ambassador, Bruce Wharton, to be distributed in various constituencies.

Others are  Paul Mavhima (Gokwe Sengwa); Walter Kanhanga (Guruve North); Adam Chamwemurombe (Chipinge West); Chriswell Mutematsaka (Guruve South); Batsirayi Pemhanayi (Mutare North); and Enock Porusingazi (Chipinge South).

The list also includes Shurugwi South MP Tapiwanaishe Matangaidze, Kindness Paradza (Makonde), David Butau (Mbire), and Uzumba MP Simbaneuta Mudarikwa.

However only Kanhanga, Chamwemurombe and Mutematsaka attended the ambassador’s function.