IN THE latest twist to the drama playing out within the MDC, it has emerged that many party legislators are not in favour of the push by Nelson Chamisa and his top allies for them to \u201cdisengage\u201d from Parliament with immediate effect.
\nPart recordings of the party\u2019s parliamentary caucus meeting that was held at Morgan Richard Tsvangirai (MRT) House in Harare on Monday, which were availed to the Daily News yesterday by some of the disgruntled legislators, show that there is significant aversion to the Chamisa directive.<\/p>\n
All this comes as the Thokozani Khupe-led group that is temporarily in charge of the MDC, following the recent Supreme Court ruling, has warned that it will recall more legislators from Parliament if any of them continue to dally with Chamisa.<\/p>\n
It also comes as the government has warned MDC legislators that should they choose to withdraw from the National Assembly, authorities will withdraw all their perks, including their top-of-the-range vehicles, with immediate effect.<\/p>\n
Some of the aggrieved MDC MPs who spoke to the Daily News yesterday confirmed the authenticity of the recordings, adding that many legislators had told Chamisa\u2019s allies that they would not abide by the directive to \u201cdisengage\u201d from Parliament.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany MPs openly raised concern about their welfare. Some actually said they had used their own resources to campaign and cannot, therefore, just be told to leave Parliament.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne MP told (Tendai) Biti (who presided over the parliamentary caucus meeting at MRT House) that most church members do not follow a pastor when he is transferred to another city, but rather remain at their branch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis MP (name given but withheld) was implying that party members and MPs should not be forced to follow Chamisa,\u201d one of the MPs who attended the heated meeting told the Daily News.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t I go to Parliament? I will not do that because I have so much to lose and they (Chamisa and his top allies) have little to lose. I have loans that have to be settled.
\n\u201cWho will help me to pay these loans, and where will I get that money?\u201d another party legislator, a proportional representative, said.<\/p>\n
Another MP who spoke to the Daily News said they had told Chamisa\u2019s allies who attended the Monday meeting that they were misleading the charismatic politician \u2013 whom they also accused of rushing to announce the legislators\u2019 \u201cwithdrawal\u201d from Parliament without consulting them first.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost MPs asked why Chamisa was refusing to attend the (planned July 31) extraordinary congress as per the Supreme Court judgment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis (Chamisa\u2019s) team failed to give a convincing answer, with one of them saying something to the effect that most court judgments were against Chamisa all the time, and so they could not follow them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only answer they seemed to have was that the courts were captured, but they did not say why they keep going back to the same captured courts,\u201d the MP said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly a few MPs such as Joana (Mamombe), Virginia (Muradzikwa) and Shakespeare (Hamauswa) supported the disengagement order (from Parliament), with the majority clear that they were not about to leave the National Assembly,\u201d another legislator told the Daily News.<\/p>\n
On his part Hamauswa insisted that the MPs who attended Monday\u2019s meeting all wanted to withdraw from Parliament.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe MPs were given a platform to express their views and fears as per the threats from the rebels.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe MPs were clear on that. They will follow the decision of the party and \u2026 not surrender the people\u2019s project to Zanu-PF.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn solidarity with the four MPs who were wrongfully withdrawn from Parliament, the MPs agreed to disengage from Parliament pending the conclusion of the ongoing consultation processes,\u201d Hamauswa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe members of Parliament also agreed to be involved in the ongoing consultation processes with the structures and the general electorate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IN THE latest twist to the drama playing out within the MDC, it has emerged that many party legislators are not in favour of the push by Nelson Chamisa and his top allies for them to \u201cdisengage\u201d from Parliament with immediate effect. Part recordings of the party\u2019s parliamentary caucus meeting that was held at Morgan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":18837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,12],"tags":[113,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-23101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-policy","10":"tag-chamisa","11":"tag-mdc"},"yoast_head":"\n