Zanu-PF Dirty Dozen

Temba Mliswa, one of the dirty dozen

In the months leading to the Zanu-PF December 2014 congress, a list of 12 Zanu-PF MPs were fingered by the party and state media as having held secret meetings with United States Embassy officials and briefing them on classified internal discussions related to the party’s succession politics.^[1] The were subsequently referred to as the Dirty Dozen in all reports that followed.

The 12 were also accused of receiving direct grants from the US government through an alleged US CIA agent and spy, Eric Little.^[2]

See Zanu-PF.

The case

The 12 MPs were accused of directly seeking financial aid from the benefiting from a US$90,000 grant the US embassy disbursed under a programme intended “to enhance community projects”.^[1]

The list of MPs

The politicians fingered where:

Paul Mavima (Gokwe Sengwa),
Walter Kanhanga (Guruve North),
Adam Chamwemurombe (Chipinge West),
Enock Porusingazi (Chipinge South),
Chriswell Mutematsaka (Guruve South),
Batsirayi Pemhenayi (Mutare North),
Kindness Paradza (Makonde),
David Butau (Mbire),
Simbaneuta Mudarikwa (Uzumba),
Tapiwa Matangaidze (Shurugwe South),
Temba Mliswa (West) Hurungwe,
Paul Chimedza (Gutu South).

Response from the MPs

The most vocal response from being fingered was by Temba Mliswa who hit back denying that there was anything untoward about working with US embassy officials for the benefit of his constituency. At a media conference he hosted on 29 September, Mliswa labelled Jonathan Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Patrick Zhuwawo as US spies and "gay gangsters". ^[3]

Trivia

The Dirty Dozen is the name of the of a 1967 movie about a US Army Major who is assigned a dozen convicted murderers to train and lead them into a mass assassination mission of German officers in World War II.