MDC Alliance Members of Parliament could be in trouble for disrespecting or showing contempt to the President following the appointment of Parliament’s Committee on Rules and Orders Committee (SROC) to look into their conduct.
A raft of amendments has also been proposed to SROC, with the new Standing Order Number 86 stating that legislators are required to observe utmost dignity and decorum during the President’s address.
MDC Senate chief whip, Lilian Timveos, confirmed receiving the proposed amendments and vowed that her party will challenge them if need be, at the court. She said:
We are still to sit as a caucus and we have a meeting coming soon to debate those changes, but definitely we will fight to the bitter end.
And the Constitution is our yardstick, if they pass it we go to court. We can’t allow the regime to infringe on our rights. Never!
MDC legislators have been boycotting sittings that were attended by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
During the presentation of the 2019 national budget in November 2018, the MPs remained seated when Mnangagwa entered Parliament and riot police moved in to forcibly eject them with several MPs left nursing injuries.