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Zimbabwe's Elections 2013 - Index of Articles
MDC-T
accuses speaker of suppressing debate on ‘rigged elections’
Tichaona
Sibanda, SW Radio Africa
October 17,
2013
View this article
on the SW Radio Africa website
Parliamentary business came to a halt on Wednesday when opposition
legislators accused the speaker of ‘suppressing their voice,’
leading to the House being adjourned for the day.
Trouble began
when the speaker, Jacob Mudenda, deferred a motion raised by the
MDC-T MP for Gweru urban, Sesel Zvidzai, calling for a debate on
the SADC Election Observer Mission Report.
The SADC report
on the
July 31st elections contains some reservations over the conduct
of the poll, which Zanu-PF won by a two thirds majority. The MDC-T
alleges the elections were rigged and debate on the motion would
prove how President Robert Mugabe’s party manipulated the
poll.
But when the
speaker stopped Zvidzai from proceeding to move the motion, MDC-T
legislators began singing, alleging that Mudenda was suppressing
their voice. The singing by the MDC-T MPs was met with loud protests
from Zanu-PF legislators, who started singing revolutionary songs.
As the noisy
scenes continued Mudenda adjourned the House for the day and announced
that he would have to consider the constitutionality of the motion.
MDC-T chief
whip, Innocent Gonese, told SW Radio Africa on Thursday that it
was unfair for the speaker to defer the motion when they had details
of the motion two weeks in advance.
‘The speaker
only stopped the debate on the motion following murmurs from Zanu-PF
MP’s. The document has been in possession of the House’s
legal department and clerk of parliament for over two weeks,’
said Gonese.
He added; ‘If
the speaker had reservations over the constitutionality of the motion,
he could have raised it there and not to stop it in Parliament when
it sailed through all the legal channels.’
The chief whip
explained that debate on the motion was necessary as it seeks to
look at the reservations raised by SADC and other observer missions.
‘Our elections
do not fully meet international and regional standards. Our intention
in raising such a motion is to ensure that our future elections
meet both the regional and international standards, as opposed to
what we witnessed in July.
‘Therefore
there is need to debate the motion and not suppress it as Parliament
is the institution that can investigate concerns raised by observer
missions to ascertain whether issues they raised have substance
or not,’ Gonese added.
Party spokesman
Douglas Mwonzora took to Facebook to query Zanu-PF’s reluctance
to debate the motion.
‘If Zanu-PF
won these elections fairly why is it afraid of the debate on the
issue in Parliament? In this debate all evidence of voter rigging
would be presented to the Parliament and therefore to the people
of Zimbabwe.
‘Zanu-PF,
through Speaker Jacob Mudenda, is trying to suppress this debate
by alleging that the motion is not constitutional. Our Parliament
is there to debate everything that affects the people of Zimbabwe,’
said Mwonzora on his social media page.
SW Radio
Africa is Zimbabwe's Independent Voice and broadcasts on Short Wave
4880 KHz in the 60m band.
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