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Zhuwao and company in contempt of Parliament
Munyaradzi Bwanya
July 20, 2009

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The First All Stakeholders Constitutional Conference was organized and run by the Select Committee of Parliament created by the 19th amendment to the Zimbabwean Constitution and the GPA. The fact that the meeting was attended by other delegates who are not themselves MPs does not detract from the fact that the meeting was a Parliamentary meeting instead, in addition, it must be noted that the registration and accreditation of the first day was meant to ensure that those who attended it did so exclusively at the invitation and pleasure of Parliament. It cannot then be denied that the All Stakeholder Conference was Parliamentary business.

Hon Zhuwao, in his 30 minute moment of madness dishonourably disrupted a Parliamentary meeting. Even more sadly he did so in violent fashion, disrespecting the Speaker midway his opening speech, disrespecting the President of the Senate who deputizes the Speaker in the Standing Orders and Rules Committee, the several cabinet Ministers present, his fellow Hon MPs, therefore disrespecting Parliament itself by bringing its honour into serious disrepute. More importantly, he disrespected the inclusive government and its leaders by his divisive actions. Most importantly he created a negative image of the nation in the eyes of our fellow African brothers who have insisted to the rest of the world that we can amicably solve our problems in house. He should have taken his opposition to the Constitution making process up with the Principals who prescribed it in the GPA.

Hon Zhuwao led his comrades in a preconceived and likely rehearsed unlawful and disgraceful conduct which his uncle has labeled "this nonsense" to disrupt the conference with a possible intention of bringing it to a premature end. It is not a coincidence that they sang "Zvikaramba tinoita zvaJune . . . " (if we fail to stop this conference we go back to our murderous tortuous rape and arson tactics of June 2008). These thugs were seated in the same bay and walked in a wedding kind step, in pairs towards the middle of the room past Hon Mohadi, Munangagwa and Made. It is stupidity of the worst kind to suppose that more than fifty people spontaneously decided to sit together, sing the same song at the same time and march in pairs towards the same destination arguably with the same intention. The video footage available points to the fact that someone gave the instruction and pulled the strings. Gestures by Hon Zhuwao and the encouragement given by Hon Kasukuwere, their relationship and their very positions of leadership make it almost a given that they together masterminded the unlawful activities of that day. The two MPs are also party to the Jonathan Moyo court proceedings against the Speaker having supplied supporting affidavits claiming that they had witnessed MDC MPs brandishing their ballots. It is not difficult therefore to see why the Speaker was their primary target after the Moyo case collapsed to the ground at the High Court a week prior.

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