Norton MP Temba Mliswa (Independent) nearly beat up Zanu PF legislator Gorden Chanda (Gokwe-Sesame) in the National Assembly yesterday after the ruling party lawmakers accused the former of harassing ministers and fellow MPs in the House.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
The melee started when Seke MP Munyaradzi Tobias Kashambe (Zanu PF) raised a matter of privilege with Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Tsitsi Gezi, that Mliswa was a loud mouth who was being given leeway to say nasty things to ministers and legislators in the House.
“There is unequal treatment of MPs here because whenever other MPs want to say something in the House, Mliswa interjects and they end up losing confidence,” Kashambe said.
“He fiercely criticises ministers and the leader of the House (Ziyambi Ziyambi) and no one is able to restrain him and I feel that he needs to be reprimanded because his utterances and interjections have caused other MPs to lose confidence and cannot even attend Parliament. At one time, he even told Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda that he is corrupt,” he said.
Mliswa is vocal and often calls a spade by its name in the House.
He was irked by Kashambe’s accusations, lost his temper and started shouting at Zanu PF legislators, who answered back, with Chanda saying some harsh words.
Mliswa moved towards Chanda and grabbed him by the collar and as the House degenerated into chaos, he insulted Chanda using unprintable words.
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Gezi could have none of it and ordered the National Assembly Sergeant at Arms Fidmore Mapwanya to eject Mliswa from the House.
“Your party has killed this institution and this country’s economy,” Mliswa shouted on his way out.
Kashambe further claimed that Mliswa had also harassed Vice-Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi in the House through his stinging utterances.
Gezi responded: “When you are elected by people, you must behave because we are adults that left our families to come here to work.”
Women’s Parliamentary Caucus chairperson Goodlucky Kwaramba said female MPs were not impressed by the language used by the warring parties.
