Last week expelled Hurungwe legislator Temba Mliswa addressed the media at the Media Centre. He is reported to have said that he wanted a coalition with other young minds such as Nelson Chamisa and Jessie Majome who he described as having good ideas. Mliswa charged that there would be no MP who is above 60 years old come 2018.

This is hypocritical considering that Mliswa’s own uncle who is just over 80 will be running for Member of Parliament in Headlands. It is therefore unclear if this coalition will also include people like Didymus Mutasa who are well over 60.

But this is not the point I want to make.Mliswa seems to be rallying a coalition that is driven by the youths. His strategy seems to be focused on the youths and whipping up their emotions against the ZANU PF government. His noises are mainly based on his own bitterness and premised on forcing ZANU PF to notice and restore his lost position of privilege.

With his feisty and confrontational approach, Mliswa sees himself as the Julius Malema of Zimbabwe whose role is to galvanise the youths against the status quo. Both characters only suddenly started making the right noises after falling out with their respective party leadership which throws their sincerity into doubt.

This seems a plausible idea except that Mliswa is trying to galvanise youths who subscribe to different ideologies with no common rallying
interest. Not all youths are disgruntled with the ruling party despite widespread unemployment and economic unrest.

Some youths have been beneficiaries of the ZANU PF patronage network. They know that outside the ruling party patronage network they cannot
access economic benefits or resources. It is impossible to trade in the informal sector without the blessing of the ruling party.

Many youths have been beneficiaries of parastatal corruption through tender fraud and rigging. They are used as proxies by powerful
politicians to secure tenders in government institutions and accrue financial benefits from these practices. These will be very reluctant to heed Mliswa’s calls.

Temba Mliswa himself is a beneficiary of this patronage system and made a fortune not from any known business acumen but his proximity to power. It will be a challenge convincing youths who saw him rise this way that ZANU PF needs to be dislodged. His seems like a case of sour grapes.

Many youths will know that Mliswa’s outbursts are as a result of bitterness rather than principle. He wants a marriage of convenience with the masses which is meant to regain his lost position of economic privilege.

Youths in Hurungwe are not stupid. They will remember that this is the same Temba Mliswa who rose at Amai Mugabe’s meet the people rally in his province and announced that MDC supporters must not benefit from farming inputs that were being dished by the First Lady.Mliswa had to be rebuked by Amai Mugabe who told him that the farming inputs were meant for all Zimbabweans.

To be fair to Mliswa, he has also made the right noises about other matters especially about forcing parliament to buy locally assembled vehicles. He deserves credit for this. But this does not turn him into a democrat. We know that his political allies have a stake in Willowvale Motors which he was canvassing for.

His calls to challenge and dislodge ZANU PF can only be good for the development and stability of our democracy in the long run.Mliswa and company however face the big task of convincing the masses that they are simply not engaging the people to fight petty personal battles on their behalf.

The opposition on the other hand must not enter into any agreements with the disgruntled ZANU PF members that are not built on solid
democratic principles. Opposition parties must evaluate if they want to join forces with elements such as Mliswa who have no respect for property rights having dispossessed people of their companies and livestock.

Zimbabweans are not interested in narrow minded coalitions whose only objective is to remove President Mugabe without making any fundamental democratic reforms. Any unprincipled coalition will be rejected by Zimbabweans and hand victory to ZANU PF in 2018. The country wants coalition that are not intended to help anyone’s quest to power but those that will make the government more responsive to their needs.