Independent Norton legislator Temba Mliswa has ripped into South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Fikile Mbalula over recent remarks the latter made in which he said the ANC will not allow regime change in Zimbabwe.
Recently, Mbalula said the ANC does not support the idea of regime change in Zimbabwe accusing the United States of America and Britain of the current challenges.
Posting on Twitter, Mliswa said Mbalula’s utterances should be treated with caution because he plays to the gallery.
“There is so much excitement locally after the statements by Fikile Mbalula fresh from the euphoria of his ANC NEC win. However there should be caution when one realises that characters like Mbalula enjoy talking too much and playing to the gallery.
“Regime change is a preserve of the Zimbabweans to effect or not to. How does SA predetermine what choices Zimbabweans can and cannot make? For whose benefit and to what end shouldn’t regime change be effected? This is a lame and populist utterance by an excitable person. Mbalula is on record attacking Zimbabwe for a variety of SA ills and for him to speak as he did, assuming a pedestal of supremacy as if they have dealt enough with their own issues is very patronising,” said Mliswa.
He said blaming the Americans and the British has not yielded any results and it is time to find solutions.
“Zimbabwe’s issues are a statement of public record and knowledge. Why would the British and US be bothered to change their tact towards us? We just need to focus and deal with issues within our control. This blame game has not taken us anyway. That makes his patronising words sick! It’s folly to continue peddling propaganda that we are some huge nation that will go toe to toe with these Western nations. The long years of suffering have already showed that we can’t. Let’s turn to finding solutions not increasing more toxicity and vainglorious fodder.
“While Mbalula is selling us epic pictures of confronting the West his Gvt has been practical in searching for solutions with everyone. That’s why besides being part of BRICS, it still hosted US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
“I wouldn’t jump on his statements as a revelation of anything. He is essentially a politician who lacks loyalty and principles. He sold out fellow comrades such as Julius Malema, threw Jacob Zuma under the bus and many others. He is an unstable fellow whose words are not worth much. That’s is why for all the many issues of substance that Zimbabwe faces he chose to prance for hollow adulations by focusing on the populistic. Are sanctions central to our problems vis-a-vis other bigger problems we have? Why not address them all and also if he is sincere?,” he said.
