Zimbabwe: MDC Plans Action Over Zanu PF Parliament Freeze

SW Radio Africa (London)

Alex Bell

23 March 2011

The MDC says it is considering all available options, including possible legal action, over Tuesday’s unilateral cancellation of the vote for Speaker of Parliament.

ZANU PF Clerk of Parliament, Austin Zvoma, unilaterally froze the workings of the House on Tuesday after announcing that the anticipated Speaker vote would not take place. Zvoma, who is now the chief officer in Parliament after the Supreme Court nullified the 2008 election of the MDC’s elected Speaker Lovemore Moyo, said the House would be adjourned indefinitely. He gave no date as to when the election would be.

“The Constitution, Standing Orders and the Supreme Court Ruling oblige us to go back to the beginning to procedurally and lawfully fill the vacancy in the office of Speaker created by the dissolution of Parliament at the beginning of 2008,” Zvoma said, “Accordingly, I, as the Clerk of Parliament duly mandated to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and Standing Orders, do hereby announce that the election of Speaker will take place on a future date to be announced in due course.”

The move is widely believed to have been sponsored by Zvoma’s ZANU PF party, which is said to still be fighting over who to nominate as Speaker. Political analyst Professor John Makumbe agreed that ZANU PF was driving the decision of the Clerk, and called the “chaos at Parliament a sign of the infighting in ZANU PF.”

“ZANU PF has serious problems. They can’t agree on anything, they are so unpopular with the public, they’re also run by the military,” Makumbe said.

With this in mind, Makumbe said that the MDC should work hard at trying to sway ZANU PF moderates within Parliament, who are already rumoured to be more likely to vote for the MDC-T’s candidate, Lovemore Moyo, for Speaker. Makumbe said it was a good time for the MDC-T to ensure that the vote is in their favour, and urged the party to also work on unifying the smaller MDC faction to this end.

“They must now work very hard to make sure that the MDC led by Welshman Ncube also supports Moyo has Speaker,” Makumbe said. “They must also push hard to ensure that the Clerk of Parliament calls this election as soon as possible, regardless of whether ZANU PF is ready or not.”

MDC-T spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the party is already preparing for the election, and is “looking at all the mechanisms of ensuring the vote goes ahead as soon as possible.” He said that legal options are still being explored. Party Secretary General Tendai Biti said on Tuesday that the party would consider approaching the High Court to force the Clerk to call the election as soon as possible.

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