Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party appeared to have chickened out of a crucial vote Tuesday to elect a Speaker of Parliament with all indications suggesting the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had sufficient numbers to re-elect Lovemore Moyo who was deposed by a dubious Supreme Court ruling.
The MDC-T said it was ready to win the Speaker’s vote and “will proceed to Parliament in spite of a unilateral cancellation of Parliament, by Austin Zvoma, a Zanu PF functionary. The MDC leadership is expected to address members of the press and the nation from Parliament building at 2 pm,” the party said Tuesday.
MP’s Lucia Matibenga and Paurina Gwanyanya – Mpariwa who were out of the country on parliamentary business flew back for the vote. Tsvangirai’s party said they have the full set of its MPs less Costin Muguti, who is in custody on account of trumped up charges.
Mugabe’s decision to snub Welshman Ncube for the Deputy Prime Minister’s post in favour of the incumbent Arthur Mutambara appears to have backfired for Zanu PF. Ncube’s smaller MDC faction have announced they will boycott the vote but it’s now expected the majority of its 7 MP’s will back the MDC-T candidate.
“Zanu PF is scared of the vote for speaker because of factionalism and divisions in that party. The people’s Party of excellence, MDC is united, and ready to win the vote together with other progressive members of parliament across the political divide,” an MDC-T statement said.
The MDC-T has 97 MP’s eligible to vote while Zanu PF has 96. Its expected Zanu PF will use any further delays to arrest more MDC-T MP’s and block them from voting in the next scheduled sitting.
