The committee, chaired by lawyer and Mudzi South National
Assembly member Cde Jonathan Samkange (Zanu PF) tabled its report in Senate
yesterday with the recommendations, and this must now be debated by the two
Houses for final decision.
Two MPs, Zengeza West MP Mr Job Sikhala and former Mbizo MP
Mr Settlement Chikwinya, should pay additional second fines of $800 000 for
disrespecting the committee when it was carrying out its work as well as
disrespecting the President.
If approved that would bring their fines to $1,2 million. Parliament
has the right to investigate charges of contempt of Parliament and can withdraw
privileges, impose fines and, in the case of its own members, suspend these
members.
So long as it remains within its constitutional powers and
follows its own procedures, the decisions made in contempt proceedings are
final and cannot be appealed to the courts.
The present Constitution has withdrawn the previous power
Parliament had to imprison those found in contempt.
The committee did not recommend the full range of sanctions
that can be applied, recommending just the withdrawal of one privilege, the
diplomatic passports, and the fines but allowing those who still have seats to
continue attending Parliament.
For many of the 87 Members of the National Assembly and 24
Senators the committee said were in contempt of Parliament, some are no longer
legislators, having been recalled by the MDC-T, now led by Senator Douglas
Mwonzora, or by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The committee was asked to investigate the opposition MPs’
behaviour by Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda in terms
of Parliamentary rules after Zanu PF Chief Whip Cde Pupirai Togarepi moved a
motion to have them charged.
MDC-Alliance legislators sang, boycotted the sitting,
remained seated or walked out of the chamber on five occasions when President
Mnangagwa delivered his State of the Nation addresses, or was present on other
formal occasions.
It was the committee’s observation that during the hearing,
the majority of MDC-Alliance members were defiant and unapologetic for their
misconduct.
“Hon (Jane) Watson was particularly hostile and
disrespectful in her responses to the committee suggesting that the chairperson
was fooling himself or trying to fool her, which was not palatable to the
committee.
“In summary, the committee found the MDC-Alliance members
guilty of contemptuous behaviour. They also exhibited gross disrespect by
boycotting, walking out and singing political songs, on the five occasions
mentioned earlier in this report,” reads the report presented by Cde Samkange.
“It is, therefore, the Committee’s view that these allegations are of a very serious nature which are designed not only to demean and humiliate the President himself, but to scandalise him. “This conduct was also intended to send a message to the local, regional and international community that the President was not democratically elected.
“Taking into account the severity of the matter, the
committee recommended that Parliament withdraws diplomatic passports from the
Honourable Members listed in Annexures A and B from the date of adoption of
this report; and that those members pay a Level 12 fine ($400 000) to the
Consolidated Revenue Fund.
“Turning to Honourables Chikwinya and Sikhala, it must be
stated that contempt of Parliament is committed during parliamentary
proceedings.
“There is no need for further investigations as a record of
what transpired already exists. It is the view of the committee that both Hon
Chikwinya and Hon Sikhala committed contempt of Parliament when they appeared
before the committee.
“For this reason, the committee recommends that they pay a
Level 14 fine ($800 000) to the Consolidated Revenue Fund in addition to the
fine given in paragraph 2 above,” reads the report. Herald
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