Fadzayi Mahere, a female Member of Parliament for Mt Pleasant from the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), has criticized Zanu-PF for suppressing the opposition’s voice in Parliament.
This comes in response to the tumult that occurred in Parliament yesterday when anti-riot police were called in to remove CCC legislators who were protesting the recall of 15 of their colleagues.
Sengezo Tshabangu, who claims to be the interim secretary-general of CCC based in Bulawayo, initiated the recall of 15 CCC Members of Parliament (MPs) and 17 councillors, alleging that they were no longer members of the opposition party.
Posting on her X account, Mahere said the duty of legislators is to represent the interests of their constituencies in Parliament, however, this responsibility becomes challenging when debate is hindered by the presence of armed riot police, who are brought in to physically repress legislators raising legitimate concerns.
“Legislators have a duty to speak in Parliament for the constituencies that elected them. That obligation can’t be carried out when debate is impeded by armed riot police who are summoned to beat us for raising points of order, points of clarity and points of national interest especially relating to the rule of law and the Constitution.
“Riot police were summoned to beat us because Chief Whip @ChibayaCCC questioned why President @nelsonchamisa’s letter of 11 September stating who in @CCCZimbabwe had the rightful power to effect recalls was ignored over Tshabangu’s fraudulent letter of 3 October,” Mahere said.
Mehere also said it is unjustifiable to recall Members of Parliament based on falsified letters, especially when there is an authentic letter that was submitted before the fake one.
The actions of ZANU PF in attacking the will of the people and manipulating election results on August 23 are undemocratic and go against the principles of parliamentary conduct, Mahere added.
“You can’t purport to recall MPs on the basis of a fake letter when you have an authentic letter that was first in time before you. ZANU PF continues to attack the will of the people & steal the 23 August vote.
“This is unparliamentary. Parliament is meant to make laws not break laws. We represent the people – not dodgy partisan political positions,” Fadzayi Mahere said.
Following Mudenda’s order to the recalled CCC MPs to vacate the House, they declined and began singing party songs, leading to the intervention of anti-riot police to remove them.
Furthermore, Mudenda announced a ruling that all CCC MPs would be prohibited from attending Parliament for six sessions and would have their salaries docked for two months as a penalty for boycotting President Mnangagwa’s State of the Nation address the previous week.
