By Paul Nyathi|Opposition MDC Alliance Members of Parliament are mobilising to give President Emmerson Mnangagwa a hostile reception on Tuesday when he officially opens the first session of the nineth parliament of Zimbabwe.

Mnangagwa will also present the State of the Nation Address at a time when the country is going through economic difficulties with prices shooting up and a cholera outbreak causing huge instability in the country.

The opposition party insists that Mnangagwa did not win the July 30 election against their leader Nelson Chamisa.

The opposition legislators last week booed Chief Justice Luke Malaba, calling him a “thief” after the top judge entered the House on his judicial robes to swear in returning Speaker Jacob Mudenda and other presiding officers.

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba, who was also in attendance, was subjected to the same humiliation until she was whisked out of Parliament by deputy Clerk of Parliament, Hellen Dingani.

Mudenda was later forced to issue a formal apology to Malaba, insisting parliament was there to protect the constitution which accords respect to other arms of the state.

He added, “It is in this context, therefore, that I convey my sincere apologies to the Chief Justice and Justice Chigumba for the shameless attacks on their character and person in the course of their constitutional duties.

“It is my expectation that such unbecoming behaviour will not be repeated in the House whose lofty stature must be guarded jealously at all times.”

In August 2015, then President Robert Mugabe’s State of the nation address was drowned in heckles by MDC MPs who sang the common derogatory song, Zanu yaora (Zanu-PF is rotten).

Some of the MPs later received death messages sent through their mobile phones by suspected state agents.