Mahere Opens Up On Resignation From “Sham” Parliament
Source: Mahere Opens Up On Resignation From “Sham” Parliament ⋆ Pindula News Former Mt Pleasant MP, Fadzayi “Iron Lady” Mahere, has described the current Parliament as a sham. Mahere resigned from Parliament and the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in January 2024, saying she could not represent a party whose leadership was unknown to her […]
Former Mt Pleasant MP, Fadzayi “Iron Lady” Mahere, has described the current Parliament as a sham.
Mahere resigned from Parliament and the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in January 2024, saying she could not represent a party whose leadership was unknown to her and whose motives and values were unclear, following its takeover by Sengezo Tshabangu.
She added that she could not work with people willing to disregard the will of the voters and hand over seats that citizens had waited hours to vote for, just to score political points.
On Wednesday, 22 October, Mahere explained further, saying she had been repeatedly blocked by the Speaker from raising points of order in the National Assembly. She wrote on X:
“Why do you imagine that the place that they call Zimbabwe’s ‘Parliament’ is some magical place where legislators use reason to debate policy, enact legislation and exercise oversight over the Executive?
“In its current state, the place is a sham.
“Whenever I’d switch on my mic to speak or raise a point of order, the Silencer of Parliament would turn my mic off and order me to shut up and sit down.
“Of course, Zanu MP Enoch Zhou would be in the background heckling “hure.” There was no voice, let alone voice of reason, to speak of.
“When I would invoke the Standing Rules to challenge the Silencer’s unconstitutional conduct in prohibiting me from speaking as I was elected to do, the Silencer would order me to leave the House.
“When I refused to leave the House, he’d call in armed riot police to escort me out. Often a suspension would ensue.
“Weekly fisty cuffs with the poe-poe was not what I’d spend hours reading draft bills, analyzing policy reports and scrutinizing Cabinet conduct for. I sell time.
“When all is said and done, I was not prepared to stay and pretend the place was an expression of the will of the people when election-losing, murderous gold smugglers and snake oil politicians replaced properly elected representatives.
“I foresaw all the while that the end game was to forcibly drive through an annihilation of the Constitution to extend Mr Mnangagwa’s term limit and create another Robert Mugabe.
“My conscience would not let me participate in such an insidious choreographed charade.
“How would I explain myself to the thousands of constituents who had voted me in when, after 5 years, I had nothing to show for my presence – except a corpse of the Constitution marinaded in corruption?
“I’ve been jailed for tweeting but the fact is – they can’t turn off my mic.”
