HARARE – Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda has written to Chief Justice Luke Malaba and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson Priscilla Chigumba apologising after the duo were heckled by MDC Alliance MPs in Parliament on Tuesday.
Mudenda said the conduct of the opposition MPs was “indecorous… uncalled for and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.”
The Chief Justice is the head of the third arm of the state and “should be accorded the respect due to his office.”
“Parliament in its diversity must be at the forefront of protecting the constitution by respecting the dignity of our state institutions. It is in this context, therefore, that I convey my sincere apologies to Chief Justice Malaba and Justice Chigumba for the shameless attacks on their character and persons in the course of their constitutional duties,” Mudenda said.
He said the “unbecoming behaviour” of the MPs should not be repeated to maintain Parliament’s “lofty stature.”
Chigumba was in Parliament to conduct elections for Speaker, Deputy Speaker, President of the Senate and Vice President of the Senate which is ZEC’s mandate. The Chief Justice was in the House to swear-in the winners.
MDC Alliance MPs are still furious with the role the duo played in the July 30 elections. ZEC is allowed of fiddling numbers to hand a narrow election victory to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a decision later rubberstamped by Malaba and the full Constitutional Court bench.
Opposition MPs shouted “Mbavha! Mbavha! Mbavha!” (Thief! Thief! Thief!) at both Chigumba and Malaba before singing “into oyenzayo siyayizonda” (we don’t like what you are doing).
Malaba and Chigumba looked shaken by the experience.
