Lovemore Moyo, Zimbabwe's new Speaker of Parliament in his new chair
(UPDATED) (UPDATED) THE opposition Movement for Democratic Change party’s newly sworn legislator has won the vote for speaker of the first parliament since the elections which started on March 29 and ended on June 27 with the presidential runoff and Zanu PF has won the presidency of the Senate.
Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma reported shortly after 2pm (local time) that Lovemore Moyo had won the key position by 110 votes to 98 votes by secret ballot and that the Zanu PF party had won the election for presidency of the upper house of parliament, the Senate.
Zvoma said Zanu PF candidate Edna Madzongwe received 58 votes against 28 votes cast for a candidate from opposition leader Tsvangirai's MDC.
Umzingwane MP Nomalanga Khumalo of the MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara will be the deputy speaker in the House.
Tsvangirai's MDC party had nominated their national chairman Lovemore Moyo as speaker, while Mutambara had put forward senior party member Paul Themba Nyathi for the same position, according to the opposition party officials.
Moyo will become, as Speaker, the fourth-most powerful politician after the President and two Vice Presidents.
The National Assembly drafts legislation which is submitted to the Senate for approval. While Mugabe retains executive powers of the drafting of laws, any presidential decree must be ratified by the lower house within 90 days or it becomes void.
Seems all of the Mutambara MDC MPs did not vote for their own nominated candidate, Nyathi but instead voted for Lovemore Moyo. One Zanu PF candidate seems to have not voted as the ruling party has 99 MPs, but only 98 votes were obtained.
Zanu PF had not confirmed its candidate for the speaker post, but backed an opposition candidate, to contest for one of the most powerful posts in Zimbabwe politics.
President Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party lost control of parliament in the March elections for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, gaining 99 seats, but Tsvangirai's party only got 100 seats which does not guarantee them an absolute majority.
That leaves control in the hands of Arthur Mutambara's breakaway wing of the MDC, which has 10 seats. There is one independent, Professor Jonathan Moyo, a former Zanu PF Minister of Information.
President Mugabe intends to officially open parliament on Tuesday despite protests by Tsvangirai's party, which says this would scuttle negotiations on forming a unity government. However, Tsvangirai's party did not object to the swearing-in.
Tisu Vatongi • tisu@hotmail.com Subject: Point is Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:13:45 • Point is Mutambara does not have control of his MP's..so as Zanu-PF we will control things via the Senate.
I hope MDC-T will be dumb enough to continue insisting on a transition of two years so that we can go back to elections in 2 years!
Nova, Edinburgh • na Subject: LET'S GET IT OVER AND DONE WITH! Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:13:29 • Tisu, you are so short-sighted.
Dont you know by now that you may keep your friends close to your heart but that you should keep your enemies even closer?
How does a shopkeeper compete with the vendor across the road who is selling the same goods from the same suppliers if he pulls down the blinds and turns his back on his opposition?
Paul Temba Nyati was voted for by ZanuPF which is exactly why his own did not vote him in. They obviously do not trust a colleague for whom ZanuPF trusted enough to vote for, yet the fact that ZPF even voted for an Opposition Member just shows you how far we have come and how the wounds are healing.
This situation today would have been unheard of ten years ago.
Let's get going on this please - Zimbabwe is still not up and going 28 years down the line - simply due to a lack of trust!
If the haemorrhaging of Zimbabwe is finally being blocked then let's help every which way we can and not rip out anymore arteries.
Omuhle • n/a Subject: Tisu Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:19:54 • Yah, now you open your seyes to reality. Things are tough, you cannot just ignore the surge of democracy any longer. Mutambara wa always a sellout to the MDC and to top it all, he vacillated from Makoni to Tsvangirayi to Mugabe and now the truth has come back to him, he was always a figurehead thrust upon the people by Ncube who wanted to hide his allegiances. Now reality is the 2 men who are been influenced by Mugabe have lost support of the few MP's they thought they controlled. So what does Mugabe do? Quite clearly he is in a coalition with two men who have no power, not from the voters and certainly not from the 10 MP's they thought were theirs. Mugabe can only give them senatorial posts (and we note there are 2 outstanding positions to fill in) but what is in it for him? Even if he makes Mutambara prime minister do you see the man changing the economy, going to the international community and saying Zimbabwe has solved it's crisis and we welcome the world to come and see? The man can't even register for the presidentail elections and all along he has been pigybacking on the person he forecasts will be victorious. Firstly Makoni then Tsvangirayi after round one and Mugabe after the ill-fated SADC mediation.
So, Tisu, accept it. You are now officially in opposition and it makes no sense to prolong this suffering. Accept Tsvangirayi as head of government, kick Mugabe out of your party and in the time between new elections without POSA and AIPPA and selective favour from ZBC and Herald, work at rebuilding your image. You guys forget one thing. ZANU PF was there before Mugabe and it should outlive him. He took you guys off track but if you get rid of him, denounce him, admit you were misled and those of you in parliament and senate should work at proving to the people you are indeed for the people. Otherwise you have no hope of lasting beyond the next elections.
absolom mukonyo • amukonyo@gmail.com Subject: Moyo was the only option Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:42:32 • The people are just tired of ZANU-PF and a win by the majority MDC for speaker of Parliament just showcases how the people no longer give a damn about PF. I believe PF would see sense in a smooth power-sharing deal
Tisu Vatongi • tisu@hotmail.com Subject: Mutambara Must Go Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:42:25 • What I find unbelievable is that while all Zanu-PF MP's voted for Paul Temba Nyati of Mutambara's MDC....non of the MDC Mutambara MP's actually voted for their own candidate!!!!
It is now obvious to me that Mutambara's leadership does not have the support of their 10 elected MPs as all 10 voted for MDC T's Lovemore Moyo and not their own Paul Themba Nyathi!
As Zanu-PF, we should distance ourself from Mutambara as we cannot rely on a man not supported by his own party members.
Lets just accept the reality that Zanu-PF has 99, Moyo 1 and the rest are on the other side making up 110.
Zanu-PF should now secure the Presidency of The Senate and forget about Mutambara
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