IS IT NOT ironic that the Movement for Democratic Change party elected legislators were celebrating that they had got a Speaker in Parliament, something we all expected to happen, given the balance of power in the House of Assembly and given that the Mutambara MDC MPs were all against President Mugabe’s Zanu PF party, but are now calling the the opening of Parliament "illegitimate"?
This morning I woke up to headlines saying: "MDC says Parliament opening was illegal". So they partook in an illegal act, and their National Chairman is sitting in the chair? And the handing of a petition to Mugabe after his speech (which they listened to with Moyo in Chair) calling the process “illegal and of no force and effect,” was really childish. Is the party also saying the election of Moyo was “of no force and effect”?
MDC could have made a bolder statement by not attending Parliament, but by doing so and then booing, clapping and singing, they made a mockery of themselves. That gesture would have been more symbolic if it had been carried out outside Parliament House, not inside, where their man presided.
In any case, President Mugabe still holds power in Zimbabwe, without the Speaker of Parliament. Parliament can still function with Executive powers and the Senate and Parliament cannot impeach him.
MDC's celebration of having a speaker shows a lack of understanding of the august House.
Zanu PF had no chance of getting a speaker, given the balance of power in the House of Assembly. That's why they did not field a candidate. It would have been naïve for anyone to expect MDC-M MPs to vote for their candidate, Paul Themba Nyathi when they knew that would tip the power in favour of a preferred Zanu PF speaker. This result was expected, but parties will always try their best to win power. MDC-M MPs, remember, had shown their disregard for the pact between their leader and President Mugabe.
We know that the Mutambara MPs, when they left the original MDC, were acting against the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai, not Lovemore Moyo. For all we know many of them could have been party friends with Moyo, as they were founding members of the original MDC. It is not true that everyone in the current MDC supports Tsvangirai. So given that reasoning, it is not surprising that those MPs voted for Moyo.
People should realise that there is not much difference in the way the members of the two MDCs think. They are ALL opposed to Zanu PF and President Mugabe, so it is logical that they vote against a Zanu PF preferred Speaker.
In any case, the celebration after having an MDC speaker should have been thought out clearly. No one party has the required two thirds majority in Parliament, so why celebrate? The MDC has steadily increased numbers and because there were no appointments this time in the House of Assembly, the MDC has a simple majority, but in legislative terms that means nothing because without the Senate the MDC cannot push its own legislation. The Senate could still block any such legislation. If the Parliament sits as an Electoral College to nominate a predecessor for President Mugabe, Zanu PF has a majority.
The school-boy moves by the MDC legislators of attending parliament and booing the President will not help change anything, legally and constitutionally. Their Speaker, failing to call the House to “order”, reflects badly on his first day of work in an "illegitimate" Parliament.
The flip flop tactics of the MDC might have helped in some instances or the other, but they clearly expose the the party’s weaknesses at a time when they should be taking advantage of the gains they made at the March 29 parliamentary elections.
The MDC should realise that once Parliament is convened, they are also ruling. The country does not necessarily need Tsvangirai to run, but MDC legislators who aattended the swearing in and First Session of the Seventh Parliament, despite all the cries about boycotting.
In effect, they are, together with Zanu PF legislators, effectively ruling the country and will be responsible to their constituencies for any decisions made, however difficult those decisions are going to be.
Any lack of progress in their respective constituencies will be a reflection of their own performance.
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Chiefnegomo • chiefnegomo@yahoo.com Subject: MASHUDU Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:33:29 • Using words like stupid simply denotes the emotions that are possibly overwhelming you,but may i remind you that emotions will never solve anything anywhere in the world.Instead you simply expousing your thinking.Not only MDC MPs are democraticaly elected and whoever vested them that mandate to represent them,i am sure would disaprove your aproval of heckling Mugabe.What would this solve apart from demonstrating their level of thinking.Never are we saying ZANUPF is the only party with the mandate to rule in zimbabwe,but instead of using emotions to make conclusions,lets have respect in our endeavours.
What we are saying here is the MDC should show maturity and ability to move from opposition to proposition.Such undeplorable behaviour is typical of a bunch of kinderagatten clowns.We are against the macabre propensity by the myopic MPs to confuse their followers more than confounding their enemies. The trajectory to freedom need a modicum of magnanimity not to bloat your actions with decapitated reasoning.Lets not forget that the masses who vested the powers to these legislators have suffered enough and their only lifeline stands within the perpherals of a meaningful reasoning by these legislators.
Mashudu,spare a little thought and come to the reality that such enervative actions of booing Mugabe does little to solve the problems of zimbabwe.In an case,the MDC MPs are simply an overzealous bunch of unbookish zimbos and what would you expect from such traits in this 21st century.Their behaviour is so retrogressive and no wonder why they float on more rhetorics than realities.As i may be labelled a ZANUPF apologist by people like you,my contributions are simply to exonerate myself and any fair minded zimbo from such cheap thinking.The choreographed heckling of Mugabe is a serious deficiency of maturity
Omuhle • n/a Subject: n/a Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:39:05 • Chief Negomo, good point and I yield to that. However the Upper House only comes into play in 2 scenarios only. One is the Lower House debates laws and votes on them before passing them onto the Upper House for the same. If MDC passes a law against ZANU PF in the lower house it will never sail thru the Upper House so we could have a hung legislature, depending on what laws they pass. Two, the Upper house will join the lower house when voting for a replacement should Mugabe step down or (God forbid) suddenly keel over. In this case zveshuwa ZANU PF have about 54% of the total votes to be cast. However, the vote for speaker of the house has indicated there was a ZANU PF MP(atleast one) who voted for MDC. Can we safely say in a vote for Mugabe's replacement that they will fall behind the man chosen by the politburo? We all know who this man is? If you analyse this 18th amendment you realise it was done to stop the Mujuru faction because naturally the Vice president should take over from Mugabe so 18th amendment was not necessary unless it was crafted by someone hoping to marginalise Mujuru and co and use their muscle in the politburo to be nominated as candidate for voting in parliament. My thoughts anyway but the Mujuru faction will counter this by having a secret ballot and thwarting this man again. Whether they will be willing to then leave Tvangirayi an open entry to the presidency is another issue or whether they will tell the politburo of this before voting and use it as leverage to get some concessions is another issue.
As for the guy calling me huni......I've been called worse. You can do better than that. How can you call MDC MP's goons when we know the violence associated with ZANU PF? We've heard the speeches about heee-e we have degrees in violence, i am a Hitler ten-fold etc. Also how can you say MDC is led by someone with ZJC only? Surely we've seen what 6 degrees can do for Zimbabwe. Absolutley f**kall! 28 years in power only to rank amongst the highest in the world for inflation, corruption, famine, shrinking economy etc. So a degree is not the be all and end all of running a country. Infact my grandmother who runs a tuckshop can do better than some of the ministers who've made it to cabinet and told us lies. If you've watched or heard parlimentary debates the world over you would know what the MDC MP's did is not unheard of and is one of the best ways of voicing disaffection with govt or an individual. Atleast they let him finish his speech. In other countries he would have been drowned out until he gave up and left and they would have been happy to see him go and celebrated.
Lastly,the guy who claims to be MDC and is now returning to ZANU PF. Sorry but your trickery is not lost on anyone. We can see thru you. You were never MDC or else you would know what we stand for and how the heckling of Mugabe was one of the first chances we have had in over 8 years to voice dissatisfaction without Gondo Guru dropping on our heads with tear gas and water cannons or youth militia abducting us. How can you simply leave because of heckling? Whatabout the murder and abductions and stealing that are rampant in the very party you are returning to? That was just a post by someone who is employed to try and sway mass opinion.
mashudu • rashaid@webmail.co.za Subject: Its their democratic right Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:19:53 • Chief. I wouldn’t agree with you less that no party has control or ( ⅔ majority ) in parliament . However I would like to disagree with you in asking a stupid question that “If they (MDC MP’s ) don’t recognize Mugabe as the president what were they doing in parliament”
Let me rather answer that question for you. They were in parliament because 1.They are elected MP’s in their constituencies. They were sworn in as MP’s and they don’t have to recognize Mugabe in order to come to parliament 2. They were in parly to show support to their colleague and comrade Lovemore Moyo who is now the newly democratically elected speaker of parliament.3. They were in parly to booe an intruder by the name of Robert Mugabe .This DESPORT of an intruder was not invited by the SPEAKER OF PALIAMENT and how he bullied guards not only to let him in but also to give him a presidential welcome including red carpet no one can explain. 4. The MDC MP’s were also in parliament to deliver a letter to this intruder that he should stay away from parly because he is an UNDEMOCRATICALLY elected intruder , something we have not been told on this site .
Now that the song book has changed from one of praising the MESSIAH to one of BOOING Mugabe it becomes a hard pill to swallow.
chiefnegomo • chiefnegomo@yahoo.com Subject: OMUHLE Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:09:52 • If the house is to sit as an electoral college,dont forget that the upper house will equaly be involved.Yakanyangira yaona.ZANUPF anticipated the MDC majority in parly when they pushed for the upper house
n/a • n/a Subject: n/a Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:34:44 • Omuhle idandara chairo, huni zvayo! This guy never ceases to amaze me! I hope the good Lord will seize him with the biblical Saul moment so that he can be enlightened. I did not expect much from the goons that were sworn into parly after reading the crap that Omuhle always dishes us on this site. The goons are now happy that they made onto the BBC news that they heckled the President oblivious to the notion that this in fact reflects very badly on their suitability to be members of that august House. What can we expect from a party that has leader whose highest education is ZJC! This means that candidates chosen to be MPs were largely going to be a bunch of illiterates as well, hence the booing and heckling. God help us all from this bunch of incorrigible reprobates now masquerading as honourable members of parliament!
NA • na.com@zol.co.zw Subject: how embarrassing was that. Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:05:22 • I am devastated and ashamed now to be MDC. Getting into Parliament was unimaginable five or ten years ago and yet here we are and I was so proud to see our own representative as the Speaker of the House, but for what purpose? To be booed and heckled by my fellow countrymen?Fellow countrymen that never miss an opportunity to state in no uncertain terms that they will do better at running the country I was born in? This is exactly why I joined MDC and now I am deeply ashamed.We are supposed to be sophisticated, determined and above such nonsense. But, obviously not.I was Motified to hear this disparaging news, and I am now resigned to the fact that Collapse will be our ultimate end. Mortified. DesparagIng. Collapse. MDC. Ultimately, I am losing the will to live. It goes against my grain to join ZPF but do I have a choice now?
Omuhle • n/a Subject: n/a Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:55:06 • Hapana zvawataura apa. None of it is consistent. How can you say MDC-M hate ZANU PF and would vote against anything ZANU PF proposed yet their choice of speaker was their own nomination. ZANU PF did not nominate the MDC-M guy. So why wouldn't MDC-M MP's vote for their own nomination? It is illogical to assume they nominated someone and then did not vote for him because they realised ZANU PF were going to vote for him. They have only 10 seats, for crying out loud, so in nominating someone from their party they expected to get votes from someone else and given MDC-T had a nomination then the other votes were going to come from ZANU PF. Or are you saying they are so naive and bad at math that they thought 10 votes wouild lift the result for them?
As for booing Mugabe...there is nothing childish...again nothing there. Mugabe is not an illegitimate president. he stole the election and by booing him and not paying him any attention they showed him (on live tv too) that he is only holding on to power by force. As soon as he steps out of the house the assembly can revert to business and work with those in ZANU PF who made it into the house.
You say if the legislative sits as an electoral college to elect a successor then ZANU PF has a majority but you ignore a few things learnt from the election of speaker.....atleast one ZANU PF MP voted for MDC-T. So can you really count on all of them falling behind a successor to Mugabe? How do you know they won;t vote for the other nominee? You don't but most history dictates that ZANU PF MP's voting in secret vote other than their party nominee.
You proceed to say ZANU PF had no chance of getting the seat given the balance of power hence they didn't field a candidate. The truth is ZANU PF employed divide and rule tactics that backfired. They were hoping to exploit the rift between the two MDC formations by voting a Mutambara representative and sealing everyone's recent pronounciations that the two are in bed together but this bed is only made out for Mutambara himself and mugabe. The MP's don't support this move hence they voted for a truly non-ZANU PF influenced individual. ZANU PF cannot claim the blance of power doesn't favour them when they are down by only 1 seat from MDC-T and can count on Jonathan Moyo's vote to make up the deficit and then MDC-M votes to swing it their way.
I could go on forever but at the end of the day you attempted to pour cold water on the magnitude of the MDC-T gaining the speakers' position and at the same time discredit them for their behaviour. It is a big blow for Mugabe ( Remember his reaction when Mavhaire went on his Ngaaende rampage in parliament? Remember he summoned Cyril Ndebele and asked him why he left Mavhaire to go on and on) The parliamentary debates for this parliament under Moyo will be along the same and more vociferous lines. MP's can say what they really want and infact before speaking can actually tell the ZANU PF MP's that...the people said to tell you to tell your president that....
Fireworks are imminent. Do not downplay the significance of this election. Divide and rule failed. Mugabe signed a pact with Mutambara who is non even in control of his MP's. They should hold new elections and pick a leader who is represented in parliament. Mugabe has held on to announcing 2 senatorial seats but we wonder if he will give themto Welshman and AGO as anticipated. This speakers electin has exposed their failure to deliver and weakness.
Phillip, this is real analysis of events in a non-aprtisan manner. not your feeble attempt.
Chiefenegomo • chiefnegomo@yahoo.com Subject: ?? Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:18:18 • To those who less priviledged in simple mathematics,Two thirds means 66.67%.This means 66.67% of 210 is 140.What it means no party in parly can succesfuly push for an amendment and goes through even if the two MDCs vote together. ZANU PF controls the upper house and they do have two thirds majority there. The upper house from the terminology itself can control the lower house. Mugabe is still very much in charge.
The childish behaviour of MDC people simply denotes their political immaturity. I am sure even Morgan does not know that haana two thirds majority in parly to shift an debate in his favour. If they do not recognise Mugabe as the legitimate president of Zimbabwe, then what were they doing in Parly. Events leading to the election of Mr Moyo, a lot contrasting reactions were given by two faces of the MDC-T, Morgan and Biti. This is not the first nor the 100th time that we have heard all this rhetoric. Zim needs a mature and reasonable opposition and not opportunists.
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