Independent legislator Temba Mliswa yesterday blasted Local Government Minister July Moyo for turning himself into a debt collector on behalf of a private company.
July Moyo recently wrote a letter to City of Harare threatening the local authority against defaulting on Geogenix service fees, prompting Mliswa to question his motive.
“Hon. July Moyo is not here to respond but is busy writing letters to the local authorities so that money comes out. His job now is to write letters wanting money. How can a Minister be a debt collector? He is not here to answer issues of all the deals that he is doing,” Mliswa said.
“The Government is a lawyer, the Attorney-General and the Minister is a lawyer, why is it the lawyer is writing a letter? To us, they are bent on reducing and denigrating His Excellency’s name and they must be brought to book once and for all.
“I will not waste much of your time but I have gotten the point home, especially Hon. July Moyo. Where is he? He is seen writing letters left, right and centre wanting a 10% commission. He has been paid.
“Ndozvinonetsa kana wadya mari dzevanhu. Haurari usiku nekuti unenge uchingonyora matsamba uchirotomoka. He must come and answer on why he is writing letters when he is not a debt collector. “
Later when Moyo’s deputy Marian Chombo was asked a series of questions, Mliswa said Chombo was being used by Moyo as a punching bag.
“To us, we are really tired – next time can we have Hon. J. Moyo not her, she is being used as a punching bag. You must stop being used as a punching bag; the Hon. Minister must be here himself. KuCabinet anoenda kunogara, maCity Council anoenda kunotyisidzira vanhu nebvudzi rewhite riya riya kuti vasaine maresolutions asina basa, taneta nazvo,” he said.
HON. T. MLISWA: Good afternoon to you Madam Speaker. You have just gone through the list, there are also Deputy Ministers who are not here and even the Leader of Government Business is also not here, unless there is somebody who is taking over.
There are a number of Deputy Ministers who seem to have been taught bad habits by their superiors in not coming to Parliament and not respecting this institution. We keep saying this and I think it is important that those who are here share with their peers at the end of the day that they must respect this institution.
We respect the Executive and the Judiciary but we seem not to be respected. Not only that, I also want to bring the aspect of how we are not respected. Last time the Commercial Court was being opened by the President, Madam Speaker was standing for the Speaker and she was not recognised – yet when we are here we recognise the Judiciary and the Executive. She was sitting out there yet she was occupying the seat of the Speaker. I had to go and talk to them but here is the Speaker of Parliament sitting mumhomho, mupovho – yet we respect them.
That has continued and it must stop because it is not them as individuals that need to be respected but it is the Office that must be respected. It is the Office of Members of Parliament that has to be respected because that is the will of the people.
I do not know at what point they will be cultured, some of them are arrogant, stubborn, and incompetent and do not have the courtesy to send in an apology. That does not augur well with us wanting to achieve the 2030 middle income status. It is a let-down to His Excellency.
Unfortunately, he is not here; we practice oversight and the message must be clear to His Excellency that he does not have Ministers who stand for him. They are there for other business.
Hon. July Moyo is not here to respond but is busy writing letters to the local authorities so that money comes out. His job now is to write letters wanting money. How can a Minister be a debt collector? He is not here to answer issues of all the deals that he is doing.