MDC Alliance MP for Dangamvura Chikanga constituency Prosper Mutseyami and 111 others have sued Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube and the Parliament of Zimbabwe at the High Court.
The legislators want the Court to compel the respondents to have their allowances reinstated following Mudenda’s decision to withhold them after they (MDC MPs) “disrespected” President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Said Mutseyami:
There is nothing in the Constitution or in the standing rules and order which require MPs to stand up when the president of Zimbabwe enters or leaves the Parliament chamber.
Applicants were also demonstrating against the country’s economic meltdown which the president is not addressing…hyperinflation, continued violation of human rights evidenced by a clampdown on freedom of assembly and association, labour rights, kidnappings and disappearances.
The MDC Alliance legislators remained seated when Mnangagwa was due to address a joint parliamentary sitting on October 1.
Mudenda responded by suspending the sitting allowances of the 112 MPs for allegedly disrespecting the President.