Former Vice-President Joice Mujuru is already under fire from one of her own lieutenants, Temba Mliswa, who said she is not presidential material.
Speaking at the 16th anniversary of the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai at the weekend, Mliswa said: “I want to congratulate Mujuru for the blueprint (Build) but …It’s one thing to produce a blueprint and quite another to gather thousands of people as you have done here. Let’s leave documents and join those who have the experience of being assaulted in an election.”
Mujuru unveiled her party manifesto last week whose economic blueprint is BUILD for Blueprint to Unlock Investment and Leverage for Development which the MDC-T said was similar to its own economic goals.
Tsvangirai welcomed Mujuru’s decision to join the opposition, but Mliswa said Mujuru should not come into the coalition wearing the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front hat.
“Everyone should bring something to the coalition and as they come, they should know that you are the president of the biggest opposition party in Zimbabwe. They should not come wearing ZANU-PF hats because they are no longer with ZANU-PF.”
Mliswa, one of the first ZANU-PF officials to be booted out of the party for supporting Mujuru has attacked Mujuru before for failing to come up with a new political party and accused her and her lieutenants of being cowards.
“The first thing is that these people worked with Mugabe for a long time and some of them are corrupt, so they are hesitant. They are clearly afraid. They also mistakenly think that Mujuru’s popularity within ZANU-PF translates to popularity for a presidential bid. No, they are wrong,” he told the media last month.
Veteran journalist Geoff Nyarota queried why Mujuru had signed her manifesto Dr Joice Teurai Ropa Mujuru. Teurai Ropa, “Spill Blood” was Mujuru’s guerilla name, but Nyarota argued that it might have been appropriate during the struggle, but not today.
“Which people’s blood does the leader of People First want to continue to be spilled, anyway?” he asked.
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