Zimbabwe speaker faces ouster
By KING SHANGO
Published on: 7th August, 2009
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ZIMBABWE – HARARE – Attempts to dislodge the Speaker of House of Assembly Lovemore Moyo and replace him with a person from Zanu (PF) or the breakaway MDC faction is gathering pace, The Zimbabwean on Sunday can report.
The matter, in which independent MP, Prof Jonathan Moyo (Tsholotsho North) is seeking to reverse the election of the mainstream MDC chairman, Moyo, to the position of Speaker, was heard in the High Court on July 9 before Justice Bharat Patel.
He reserved judgement while he looks into the arguments by both parties. While Patel was not immediately available to comment on when the judgement would be delivered, official judiciary sources claim pressure was mounting inexorably on the judge to make a determination that invalidates Moyo’s election.
Speaker Moyo’s lawyer, Chris Mhike told zim NET radio: “We are eagerly awaiting delivery of judgement.”
Moyo is seeking to invalidate the Speaker’s historic election, in a plot said to be spearheaded by a number of so-called hawks within Zanu (PF).
The party’s own candidate for the position of Speaker, who was a member of the smaller MDC party led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, was defeated in the election.
Prof Moyo, represented by lawyer Terence Hussein, has declared his ultimate objective as being to bring the tenure of Moyo as Speaker of the 7th Parliament of Zimbabwe to a premature and inglorious end.
Moyo is arguing that the election of the Speaker was flawed because it was not a secret ballot, with legislators allegedly showing each other how they had voted. MP Moyo argues that this ran against one of the fundamental tenets of democratic parliamentary practice.
He has insisted that the election of Moyo should be set aside by the court, ostensibly because it established an unacceptable standard of behaviour for Parliament.
The ongoing court hearing means the mainstream MDC’s control of Parliament stands doubtful in the face of the constitutional court challenge against the election of its national chairman which the applicants claim was in contravention of Article 6 of the Parliamentary Standing Rules and Orders, and the continuing conviction and suspension of its MPs from Parliament.
MDC policy coordinator Eddie Cross said there was a clear plot to dislodge Moyo and replace him with a person from Zanu (PF) or the Arthur Mutambara-led formation of the MDC.
“If that happens (Speaker’s election is invalidated) we would face a fresh election process for a new Speaker and in anticipation, our opponents in the House are working to eliminate the majority that gave us control of the Speaker’s post in 2008,” Cross said.
“The Mutambara group has dismissed three Members of Parliament (linked to backing Lovemore Moyo in the election for Speaker) already and is targeting others.
“Zanu (PF) controlled courts have already succeeded in securing convictions on various grounds of five Members of Parliament and are targeting many others. If these convictions succeed they would lose their voting rights in any election for the Speaker.
If this manoeuvre is successful Zanu would gain control of this vital post, giving them effective control of all three main arms of government – the judiciary, the executive and Parliament.”
But lawyer Mhike, representing the Speaker, has argued that everyone present during the election of Moyo in August last year was satisfied with the manner the vote was conducted and there were no objections in the House.
This position was confirmed by Choise Damiso, counsel to Parliament, who confirmed in court that none of the legislators lodged any objections.
The MDC chairman beat former parliamentarian Paul Themba-Nyathi, whose candidacy for the Speaker’s post was sponsored by his party, the breakaway faction of the MDC led by Mutambara. He enjoyed the full backing of President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF).
Moyo was elected Speaker by a surprising 110 votes to the 98 clinched by Themba-Nyathi, following a surprise change in allegiance on the part of the 10 MPs representing the breakaway faction of the MDC as parliamentarians cast their ballot.
The distribution of the votes left little doubt of what exactly had happened. The 10 legislators of the Mutambara group had gone against their party en masse and voted for the candidate of the rival MDC party led by Morgan Tsvangirai, leaving their own candidate to receive the overwhelming but futile support of all Zanu (PF) legislators.
Zanu (PF) strategically refrained from fielding a candidate while ordering its legislators to vote for the Mutambara faction’s candidate, instead. A combination of the Zanu (PF) MPs and those of the Mutambara faction would have delivered the required mortal blow on the mainstream MDC candidate on that crucial day, if the Mutambara MPs had not become last minute turncoats.
The Zanu (PF) strategy was thwarted by the rebellion of the defectors. The tables were effectively turned on Mutambara when his MPs betrayed him and aligned themselves with Tsvangirai by turning their back on Themba-Nyathi to vote for Moyo.
Moyo alleges in his court challenge that Mutambara MPs had shown their ballot papers to mainstream MDC chief whip, Innocent Gonese and MDC vice president Thokozani Khupe, to assure them that they had, indeed, betrayed Mutambara and voted for Moyo.
Zanu (PF) and Mutambara’s MDC have quietly fumed since then, culminating in the latest court challenge.
The Speaker has come out fighting, insisting that the doctrine of separation of powers outlawed the courts from interfering with Parliamentary processes. Speaker Moyo’s argues in his court papers that the applicants should have brought a motion in Parliament seeking the reversal of the Speaker vote instead of rushing to the law courts.
Speaker Moyo has also queried Prof Moyo’s standing in the case and questioned why the aggrieved party, Themba-Nyathi, had not brought the legal challenge.
zim NET radio understands the legal challenge was mooted at the Kadoma Ranch Motel during a so-called strategy workshop of the Mutambara faction in September last year. Prof Moyo, who by all indications has now returned to the Zanu (PF) fold, checked into the motel for the duration of the workshop, sources say.
At the height of the dispute last year, the MDC issued a statement stating that the MPs’ vote for Moyo was a true reflection of the will of the people of Zimbabwe.
“The election of Hon Moyo as Speaker of Parliament remains a historic occasion, which cannot be reversed by losers, regardless of whatever machinations they can concoct to reverse the people’s will,” the MDC statement said.
But Prof Moyo insists that Speaker Moyo was elected through an undemocratic process and has called for a rescission of the election result.
Moyo says the insistence that mainstream MDC MPs show their ballot papers to Gonese and Khupe prior to voting was not only unlawful, but it also ran against one of the fundamental tenets of democratic parliamentary practice.
