Fight to unseat Speaker put on hold

Justice Bharat Patel reserved judgement on the legal challenge brought forward by Moyo, seeking to invalidate the Speakers election as part of a plot said to be spearheaded by ZANU PF to destabilise the MDC majority in Parliament. Moyo has previously declared that he wants to bring the current Speakers tenure to a premature and inglorious end.

Moyos lawyer is arguing that the election of the Speaker breached Parliamentary rules, as it was not a secret ballot. The argument put forward is that legislators showed each other their unfolded ballot papers during the election process. But advocate Matthew Chaskalson, representing the Speaker, said everyone present during the process was satisfied with the manner the vote was conducted and there were no objections in the House.

This is because no party should wait and see who wins and then raise

complaints, he told the High Court. The applicants cannot seriously submit that they could not object in the voting process.

The MDC chairman beat former parliamentarian Paul Themba-Nyathi, who had been nominated by the Mutambara MDC. His nomination was also backed by ZANU PF. But Moyo was elected Speaker by a surprising 110 votes to 98, following a surprise change in allegiance on the part of 10 MPs representing the breakaway faction of the MDC. Reports suggest that the MPs from the Mutambara MDC had shown their ballot papers to the chief whip of the Tsvangirai MDC, Innocent Gonese, and MDC vice president Thokozani Khupe, to assure them that they had voted for Moyo. ZANU PF and Mutambaras MDC have reportedly quietly fumed since then, culminating in the latest court challenge.

The Speakers opposing court papers state that the applicants should have brought a motion in Parliament seeking the reversal of the Speaker vote instead of rushing to the law courts. The Speaker has also queried Jonathan Moyos standing in the case and questioned why the aggrieved party, Themba-Nyathi, had not brought the challenge instead.