By Langton Ncube| Independent Norton MP, Temba Mliswa, says it is going to take Zimbabweans a long time to believe that the former President Robert Mugabe is no longer the head of state because of the indoctrination the ex-leader planted in the people.

Two senior Zanu PF officials at the party’s extra-ordinary congress in Harare recently made serious blunders during their presentations when they acknowledged Mugabe instead of their new leader Emerson Mnangagwa.

The two are Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa and the party’s national spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo.

“It is going to take us years to believe that the former President Robert Mugabe is gone .I am a very sharp person mentally but I realize that it is going to take me a long time to readjust because for 37 years we were under one man, so it’s a system and its on us,” Mliswa told Christmas  dinner he held for the disadvantaged members of Norton recently.

“So you find us sometimes not believing that Mugabe is gone and you may hear us saying President Mugabe instead of saying President Mnangagwa and what I can say is that we were indoctrinated by one man for a long time .He was very good at that and we must also admit whether bad or good but that what it is,” he said.

Mliswa who served as the Zanu PF chairperson for Mashonaland west during the Mugabe era also said the former  head of state was not “all” that bad.

“ I would also want to say the former President might had his weaknesses but he equally played his part  and made sure that we are what we are today and it will be unreasonable for us not to appreciate some of what he  did  and not also to continue with some of the work he did,” said Mliswa.

Mugabe was ousted from power last month by Mnangagwa through the assistance of the military.

The former President had ruled the country since its independence in 1980 and had not allowed succession debate within the Zanu PF political party.

Before his ouster he was intending  to hand over power to his wife Grace.