Uproar erupted in the House of Assembly yesterday following suggestions by Bikita West MP Heya Shoko (MDC-T) that MPs who owed Zesa thousands of dollars in unpaid bills should be barred from Parliament.
Shoko said this while debating the Presidential speech, where he named the defaulting MPs amid fierce interjections.
Shoko labelled Zanu PF MPs land grabbers, prompting Zanu PF MP for Uzumba Simbaneuta Mudarikwa to call for a point of order with the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Lovemore Moyo.
Moyo said the call for a point of order was not warranted, and Shoko continued to name and shame Zanu PF MPs allegedly implicated in the Zesa scam.
President (Robert) Mugabe said agriculture was the backbone of our economy, but these land grabbers are not paying their electricity bills to Zesa, Shoko said.
It is high time we named and shamed these people because this country is not moving forward and we want to build (power) generation plants, yet we have MPs who are not paying bills and they attend Parliament dressed in expensive suits.
Shoko fingered Mwenezi East MP Kudakwashe Bhasikiti, whom he said owed $77 000, Chivi Central MP Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana ($74 000), Masvingo provincial governor Titus Maluleke ($16 000), Manicaland provincial governor Christopher Mushohwe, whom he described as the chief of electricity defaulters with a bill of $367 000, and Home Affairs co-minister Kembo Mohadi with a bill of $44 000.
They say there are sanctions in Zimbabwe and yet they are putting Zesa under sanctions. Mozambique has threatened to shut us down because of the $88 million debt and yet VIPs owe millions.
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It is my humble suggestion that these legislators pay as early as possible or be barred from this House, Shoko said. Hitting back, Mhondoro-Ngezi MP Bright Matonga (Zanu PF) said there was corruption in government where Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was double- dipping and got $1,5 million for refurbishing his house.
The crime should be investigated thoroughly because he accessed $1,5 million from RBZ (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) and another $1 million from the Ministry of Finance making it $2,5 million, said Matonga amid noisy interjections from MDC-T MPs.
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