HARARE - ZANU PF MPs stormed out of the House of Assembly on Tuesday after the MDC-T presented a sensational report detailing the atrocities committed by President Robert Mugabe's party during the run-up to the aborted June 2008 repeat election.However, the walkout led by ZANU PF chief whip Joram Gumbo did not halt the business of the House and debate continued in the absence of members of Mugabe’s minority party.
ZANU PF MPs sat in stunned silence as MDC-T chief whip Innocent Gonese read the party’s report of the violence allegedly committed by Mugabe supporters with the assistance of members of the security forces in 2008.
Gonese also presented a ‘roll of honour’ in memory of 278 murdered MDC-T activists, one of whom was forced to drink poison before he was axed to death.
Gonese said his motion, which ZANU PF has repeatedly tried to block claiming it violated the Global Political Agreement, was aimed at creating a Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the killings and numerous other abuses.
He said the purpose was not revenge but to form a basis for ‘transitional justice, reparations and compensation’ for the victims.
The report, only parts of which have been published, indicates that the violence was much worse than previously thought or documented by human rights groups.
“If my colleagues from ZANU PF not guilty of these things then they must support this motion,” Gonese said.
MDC-T’s Tabitha Khumalo gave a historical background to political violence in Zimbabwe, dating back to the Gukurahundi era of the 1980s.
However, when Joram Gumbo stood up to debate the motion, he said he wanted to draw the house back to 1896, which drew jeers from MDC-T MPs. Speaker Lovemore Moyo, who is also MDC-T chairman said Gumbo should ignore the heckling, but Gumbo led his colleagues in the walkout, which appeared pre-planned.
debate then continued.
Post published in: News