Mudenda hypocrisy exposed

By Brown Moyo

HARARE – Zanu PF’s Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda yesterday exposed his hypocrisy when he expelled former Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and Hurungwe West legislator Temba Mliswa from parliament after they were expelled from the party.

However what is interesting in Mudenda’s ruling is that Mutasa and Mliswa found themselves in exactly the same scenario like the MDC-T former secretary general Tendai Biti and his renewal team who were also expelled from their party.

In delivering his ruling yesterday Mudenda said:

“I took into consideration the party’s request to recall the legislators after they were expelled from the party. I also looked into the letter written by honourable Mutasa explaining that Zanu PF cannot recall him from the parliament because processes used to expel him were unconstitutional, however Mutasa’s letter had no merit.”

In the MDC-T case, Biti and 15 other MDC-T legislators fell out with MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai after they called for him to step down and allow a process of renewal in the party.

However at the MDC-T’s 4th National Congress the renegade MPs were expelled from the party hence their recall from parliament.

Tsvangirai recalled Biti (Harare East Constituency), Willias Madzimure (Kambuzuma), Paul Madzore (Glen View South), Solomon Madzore (Dzivarasekwa), Lucia Matibenga (Kuwadzana West), Samuel Sipepa Nkomo (Lobengula), Reggie Moyo (Luveve) and Evelyn Masaiti.

Also recalled were Bekithemba Nyathi (Mpopoma/Pelandaba), Moses Manyengavana (Highfield West), Albert Mhlanga (Pumula), Roseline Nkomo (Tsholotsho North), Settlement Chikwinya (Mbizo), Judith Muzhavazhe and Gorden Moyo (Makokoba).

The MDC-T also recalled three senators namely Sekai Holland (Chizhanje), Rorana Muchihwa (Chikomo) and Watchy Sibanda (Matabelaland South).

But in his ruling Mudenda washed his hands off the MDC-T saga and ruled that the matter must be taken to court.

Mudenda said he had “no role to play in the internal disciplinary actions, disputes, or differences within political parties.”

In an interview with Nehanda Radio Mudenda said the two scenarios are different hence he gave different rulings.

“I want you to do your research. Investigate and then come back to me if you get the right facts because these two cases are different,” Mudenda said.

In the MDC-T case, Douglas Mwonzora, the secretary general wrote to Mudenda informing him of the MDC-T congress resolution to recall the MPs that crossed floors to Sekai Holland’s MDC Renewal Team.

The same took place in the Zanu PF case when the secretary for administration Ignatious Chombo wrote to Mudenda informing him that Mutasa and Mliswa have been expelled from the party and they were being recalled as MPs representing Zanu PF.

Mutasa, like Biti also wrote to Mudenda informing him that the congress which was held by Zanu PF was illegal and that the process used to expel him and other party officials was unconstitutional.

Biti had already written to Mudenda advising him not to entertain any moves from Tsvangirai’s camp to expel the legislators, saying only the secretary general can write to the speaker.

But the Tsvangirai camp argued that only Thokozani Khupe, the leader of the opposition party in parliament, could write such a letter.

What has set tongues wagging is that Mudenda dismissed Tsvangirai’s decision to recall the MPs by claiming that the “alleged resolution made at your MDC-T party congress does not constitute a judicial decision. I hereby inform you that I cannot accede to your purported instruction…”

He ruled that no MPs should be recalled from Parliament that he had no power to rule on the matter, referring the factions to the court.

University of Kent (UK) law lecturer and political commentator Alex Magaisa said Mudenda “has performed an incredible somersault and discovered that he can in fact judge whether or not representations by an affected MP have merit.

“In this case, involving his own party and Mutasa, he has taken on the role of judge in regard to the merits of Mutasa’s arguments, presumably against expulsion from Parliament. Quite how he justifies this totally different attitude and approach in this case is not altogether clear at present.

“It is this that exposes the Speaker to charges that this conduct smacks of double-standards – in one case, he rightly deferred to the courts to decide on a dispute between the parties but in the other he has decided to take on the role of judge. The MDC-T supporters will feel aggrieved that the Speaker chose to ignore their request and yet when it came to Zanu PF he was ready to act.”