Sunday, 13 April 2025

ED IMPEACHMENT A WASTE OF TIME, SAYS ZIYAMBI

Any attempts to impeach President Mnangagwa will be futile without Zanu PF, which voted him into office as Zimbabwe has a party-based Parliamentary system that precludes individual whims over the collective position, Politburo member Cde Ziyambi Ziyambi has said.

Any actions that go against the collective position of Zanu-PF, worse those initiated and pushed by people outside or expelled from the party, Cde Ziyambi said, would not succeed.

Speaking at a Zanu-PF Mashonaland West provincial coordinating committee (PCC) meeting in Chegutu, Cde Ziyambi said the impeachment route was a futile sequel to the abortive March 31 protests.

“We thank Zanu-PF members and the citizens at large for ignoring the calls for street protests on March 31 called for by the expelled (Blessed) Geza,” said Cde Ziyambi who is also Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister.

“Now that they realised the dismal failure of their plan, they are now at sixes and sevens and even hallucinating that they now want to go to Parliament to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President.”

He said constitutional provisions made it difficult for individuals to pursue selfish interests against the broader citizenry that is represented by their MPs in Parliament.

“Let me tell you our system in Parliament and be wary of lies they will spew out there. In Zimbabwe, according to our Constitution, the Parliament system is party-based and as such, Cdes (Webster) Shamu, (Polite) Kambamura, (Marian) Chombo, (Shacky) Timburwa and the deputy chief whip (Chinjai) Kambuzuma here, we do not have a mind of our own that we will share at Parliament outside party ideology. We toe the party line. That is why we have the whipping system,” explained Cde Ziyambi.

“Here in Mashonaland West Province, for instance, we have the deputy party chief whip Cde Chinjai Kambuzuma. When she is in Parliament, her role is to wield an invisible whip. During debates, these parliamentarians know that when the chief whip stands up, that is the party position.”

He said indications that a motion would be raised in Parliament to impeach the President would need to pass the Party Parliamentary System and the whipping system, which ensures positions agreed upon by the lower levels of the party were upheld at the legislative level.

“So there is no way I can pursue my interests as ZZ or JJ in Parliament. Now when you are thrown out of the party like what happened to (Blessed) Geza and then you say you want to talk to the party members who refused to go into the streets to do what you wanted, where do you get the people?

“So when you hear them speak on social media about their intentions you should laugh at them as no such shenanigans can succeed in Zimbabwe. If you want to move a motion, you go to the chief whip and present it and he agrees to the motion on behalf of the party,” further explained Cde Ziyambi.

Without the Chief Whip’s consent, he said, the matter suffers a stillbirth.

Cde Ziyambi said the Constitution has a recall clause, which parties can activate when members they sponsored into Parliament no longer serve the party’s interests.

“I am saying that anyone or MP who is identified as being Zanu-PF and decides to pursue interests other than those of Zanu-PF, then the same Zanu-PF will recall him or her and put someone who will do Zanu-PF’s bidding,” said Cde Ziyambi.

“So there is no MP in this country and the Constitution of Zimbabwe who will stand up and do things contrary to what the party has sent him to do at Parliament. The party in our collective as we are right now decides and it filters up to higher levels.”

MPs in Parliament, he said, were given direction by resolutions of the party’s People’s Conference, Congress or as directed by the Central Committee.

As such, said Cde Ziyambi, no Zanu-PF member could be used by someone outside its structures and expect to survive the recall clause.

“If you think you are bigger than the party you will be thrown out of the window. That is why you hear the President saying Zanu-PF is a pocket big enough to fit everyone but you can’t fit it into your pocket. It will burn you.

“I have come to assure you to sleep peacefully as Parliament is a no-go area and also there is no secret ballot in Parliament. If there is a deadlock during debate leading to a divided House, the party chief whips stand up with members of their parties,” said Cde Ziyambi.

There is no secret ballot or voting as respective parties take down the names of their members.

“The chief whips take down their members’ names and that is the voting process. There is no X in Parliament. Those hallucinating on social media are ignorant of how the parliamentary system works.

“It is very difficult for an individual to act outside an agreed party position. What is happening now shows that those pushing their agenda have now run out of ideas. They are coming to a dead end,” he said.

Long-serving Senate President and now a member of the Elders Council Cde Edna Madzongwe reaffirmed the position.

“I was in Parliament for more than 20 years, the greater part as Senate President and I would like to agree with Cde Ziyambi that if you are a Zanu-PF member, you cannot do anything that is anti-Zanu-PF,” she said. Herald

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