HON. T. MLISWA: Mr. Speaker Sir, good afternoon to you and in fact good afternoon to Ministers.  We hardly see them; we only see them when the President is here. Mr. Speaker Sir, I stand before you as a worried citizen.  On the right side I have colleagues, Members of Parliament belonging to the opposition.  They are not here today and I am now starting to doubt their agenda.  Are they for the people or they are for themselves? – [HON. MEMBERS:  Hear, hear.] –

          This institution is an institution that belongs to the people of Zimbabwe.  When we come here, national interest is first.  We were elected by the people to come and represent them.  There was an election which was disputed; it went to the Constitutional Court and a decision was made.  His Excellency, Cde. Mnangagwa won the matter and as such, the process that was carried out allowed him to be the Head of State, which really means he is the head of the three pillars of the State; Parliament, Judiciary and the Executive. 

I am worried that the councilors from the same party that also contested the same election appear before the very same President whom they do not respect.  The decision that they make seems to be a decision which is not consistent with even their resolution that they passed.  They say that they passed a resolution at their party conference to say that they will not respect the President but how come their councilors do the same?  I thought that Members of Parliament were more mature, senior and they would be able to do what is expected of them. 

Mr. Speaker Sir, time has come that this institution comes up with rules that will empower you to be able to deal with any Member of Parliament who behaves in a manner which is not befitting of this institution – [HON. MEMBERS:  Hear, hear.] – We have national issues at hand.  Mr. Speaker Sir, with the hypocrisy that they exhibit, they contribute to every Bill in this Parliament and that Bill ends up with the President signing.  So, when the President is signing the Bill and they are contributing, who do they expect to sign that?  It shows that they are aware that the President signs the Bills.  They contribute to the bills and the bills are signed by the President, so how then can they not be part of this.  They have been complaining about reforms in many ways and they are expected to be in this House to address the very same reforms that they say are not moving the country forward. 

This event today is a critical event in terms of the country moving forward.  The Minister of Finance and Economic Development will present the budget which equally they contributed to.  We were in Victoria Falls together – [HON. MEMBERS:  Hear, hear.] –  Mr. Speaker Sir, we were in Victoria Falls together and the Ministers who were presenting their papers were appointed by the President.  So, how can you separate a Minister appointed by the President?  They are willing to listen to the Ministers but they are not willing to listen to the President.  Whoever is giving them a strategy certainly is not a good a strategist, it is not sustainable – [HON. MEMBERS:  Hear, hear.] –

They need to go back to the drawing board as Zimbabweans and review their strategy because for four years they cannot sustain this.  It is impossible.  I see a day when they will be sitting down here and respecting the President.  What will the nation say of them?  What is the nation saying of them today with the inconsistencies of having councilors respecting the President and them not respecting him?  The Office of the President must be respected and when we come to this institution politics must be outside.  They can go and campaign and say whatever they want about the President but when we come to this institution, it is a sacred institution.

Mr. Speaker Sir, I would like you to take corrective action to ensure this does not happen.  I am the one who got up the last time to plead for a rescission on the judgement that you had made that they must not ask Ministers.  Today, I am equally one with my constituents who are saying that they are not sincere and as such wakuda shamhu in munyu chaiwo chaiwo  Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to say you are the head of Parliament and as such, we submit to you and we must show respect.  I think they are disrespecting you by pushing you to the edge.  You are a reasonable leader who forgives, we have seen that but I think they have really pushed you to the edge.  It is a pity I am not in that seat, otherwise I would have done things – [HON. MEMBERS:  Hear, hear.] – Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to really implore my colleague Members of Parliament wherever they are that I think you are losing the plot.  This nation is bigger than any individual, so is this institution. 

Let me lastly say that I was a bit worried when I read that my colleague Cde. Julius Malema had mentioned that he wanted to mediate in the G40.  Let me say this to Hon. Malema, that there is a law in this country.  As much as he fights against corruption in South Africa, we equally fight against corruption.  The best that he can do to mediate is talk to his fellow friends to come and face the laws of this country.  They committed a crime and as such, there is no political matter which is stopping them from being here other than that they committed crimes which are well known and they must face the courts of this country because we are a law abiding country. 

He is misinformed by thinking that there is any political motive on that. It is purely a law issue which can only be addressed by the courts, so the mediator is already, there being the courts.  We do not need him to mediate in matters which are before the courts in this country.  May he stick to his principles of being an Hon. Member of Parliament who fights corruption in his country and allow us to fight corruption in this country.  If he has decided to be an external affairs officer for the G40 then he must come out in the clean.  I thank you.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, order.  I want to thank Hon. Mliswa for his observations. I do not want to be prophetic about that “shamhu” but I can assure you it is coming – [HON. MEMBERS:  Hear, hear.] – I cannot say in what form, it would be reviewed at the appropriate time because enough is enough – [HON. MEMBERS:  Hear, hear.]