(BBC) Fuming Mugabe rattled by hecklers
Fuming Mugabe rattled by hecklersRobert Mugabe's picture hangs at the entrance of the parliament building as a guard of honour stand during the opening ceremony in Harare, 26 August 2008
By Brian Hungwe
Harare
Loud jeers and howls accompanied President Robert Mugabe address to Zimbabwe's newly convened parliament, leaving ruling party members fuming.
Such uncouth behaviour from the opposition, one Zanu-PF insider said, was uncalled for.
But after gaining control of parliament, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) clearly wanted to make its mark.
The opening of parliament had started with the usual pomp and ceremony.
We are together in the struggle, no amount of beatings and killings will deter us
MDC MPs' chant
In pictures: Zimbabwe parliament
Mr Mugabe drove to the house in an open Rolls Royce, accompanied by horse-mounted police.
Singing party supporters, bussed in to give the occasion colour, welcomed him as the car drew in.
The elite presidential guard stood to attention for their commander-in-chief.
The most-decorated military generals followed behind him as he inspected the guard, resplendent in their military gear, who promised to salute him till death.
Inside parliament, it was a different story.
Lacking Grace
As Mr Mugabe sauntered into the building, a green stately cloth across his shoulders, his Zanu-PF legislators to the left of the house stood up as a mark of respect for their head of state, their party leader.
Military generals, then judges in their colonial red gowns and pink wigs, followed closely behind.
But what must have staggered Mr Mugabe was that the MDC MPs remained seated.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and army generals inspect an honour guard in Harare, 26 August 2008
Robert Mugabe opened parliament amid ceremonial pomp
The president walked assertively past them, but he must have known then that he was in deep trouble.
This had never happened before to the 84-year-old leader.
Perhaps it was an inkling that the usual deference might be lacking that his wife Grace was not in attendance.
Half way through his speech, in which he praised South African President Thabo Mbeki for facilitating dialogue with the MDC and attacked rampant inflation, murmurs of discontent began to surface.
These jeers grew louder, leaving Zanu-PF MPs stunned.
"You killed people, we know that," a yell came from the MDC backbench.
'You are murderers'
In a crowd of more 200 legislators, it was hard to pinpoint the culprit.
"Yes, you are murderers," another echoed, in Shona.
Mr Mugabe then touched on the subject of sanctions.
"Surely sanctions cannot be good for any Zimbabwean and we have abundant evidence of their ravaging impact. We cannot condone such blatant spiteful injury," he said.
But the MDC struck again.
MPs arrive for the opening of parliament in Harare, 26 August 2008
MDC supporters were in combative form throughout the proceedings
"Zanu-PF is rotting," the legislators chanted for a good three minutes.
As Mr Mugabe raised the issue of the economic crisis, the opposition erupted into another song.
"We are together in the struggle, no amount of beatings and killings will deter us," they sang.
At some point Mr Mugabe raised his head, face shaken, and then proceeded with his speech.
Some minutes later, however, he accidentally knocked down the microphone.
It was certainly not the Zimbabwean octogenarian's usual performance.
He may have raised his fist as he walked out of parliament to diplomats and businessmen monitoring proceedings from the television sets outside parliament.
But his body language told a story of a leader who no longer quite has his grip on power.
graphic
Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, MDC VIOLENCE
posted by MrK @ 12:23 AM
2 Comments:
The MDC is already acting like the hired mob they are.
Helpfully the BBC posted the audio to this bully boy behaviour.
The MDC is nothing but a rent-a-crowd.
From NewZimbabwe.com:
Speaker registers disquiet over Mugabe heckling
By Lebo Nkatazo
Last updated: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:14:56 GMT
ZIMBABWE’S new Speaker of Parliament said Wednesday that he had raised the issue of the disruption of President Robert Mugabe’s speech to parliament by opposition legislators “at political level”, insisting he had no control of the House at the time.
Legislators from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai booed continuously during Mugabe’s speech at the official opening of Zimbabwe’s seventh parliament on Tuesday.
Mugabe paid little attention to the hecklers during his speech but told dignitaries at a dinner later in the day that the MPs’ behaviour was “barbaric and nonsensical”.
“That is what they do in their world,” Mugabe quipped.
Speaking to New Zimbabwe.com about the incident, Moyo, who is also the MDC chairman, said the heckling was “beyond parliament” and urged the country’s main political parties to reach a quick settlement on a power-sharing deal.
“I can only plead with the parties to address the political issues. This is my plea to Zanu PF and MDC… what happened there was beyond parliament. But I have raised it at political level,” Moyo said.
As the ceremony was a joint sitting of both houses of parliament, Moyo said he had taken a seat on the floor with all other MPs and Senators while leaving the Speaker’s chair to Mugabe.
He added: “I can say we certainly didn’t anticipate what happened, and so we had no strategy to deal with it. In my duties it does not say I can disrupt the president’s speech from the floor, or whether the Sergeant in Arms should use his judgment to eject people from the House.
“We also should remember that in a joint sitting, the Senate President is also present. She didn’t call the House to order either, because it’s all a grey area.”
Moyo said if he had been presiding at the time, he would have chased the hecklers out, but wondered if that would have solved the problem.
“I am determined to restore the dignity of this institution,” he said. “I want to make a mark, but that’s difficult when the MPs have to watch their colleagues being manhandled by the police. That said, I still don't condone what happened.”
He was making reference to the arrest of five MDC MPs on Monday and Tuesday. The MPs are charged with various crimes from political violence, attempted murder to rape.
Power sharing talks between Tsvangirai and Mugabe appear to have cooled in recent days after Tsvangirai rejected the Prime Minister’s position in an "inclusive government" without certain powers.
Moyo said his party was still committed, describing the dialogue as the only road map to recovering the country’s economy and promoting political dialogue.
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