Mliswa Ejected From Parliament Over Gukurahundi Remarks
Norton MP, Temba Mliswa (Independent), was on Tuesday ejected from Parliament after he accused ZANU PF of committing atrocities.
Debating the Patriotic Bill in the National Assembly, Mliswa said ZANU PF killed thousands of people in Midlands and Matabeleland provinces in the 1980s Gukurahundi killings.
He said ZANLA and ZIPRA comrades went to war to liberate the country, therefore no one was qualified to call another a nationalist or a patriot.
Mliswa criticised ZANU PF for pushing for the enactment of the Patriotic Act saying the ruling party was “deranged”. Said Mliswa:
The only thing ZANU PF is known for is massacre. Gukurahundi, it did it. There must be a Commission of Inquiry to deal with ZANU PF people who led the killings.
Human rights defenders and opposition political parties have warned that the Patriotic Bill will threaten freedom of speech in Zimbabwe if passed into law. Said Mliswa:
You cannot kill other people in a country. Did you not hear of Gukurahundi? Where are those people who spearheaded Gukurahundi?
Are they nationalistic, are they patriotic? They went and killed the people who were patriotic and nationalists.
Gukurahundi is a fact. Let it not pain you because you were probably not part of the struggle. This is emotional…
Acting National Assembly Speaker Tatenda Mavetera accused Mliswa of using offensive language against ZANU PF, and ejected him from the august house. She said:
Hon. Mliswa, we have got different political parties in this house and for you to come and accuse another political party and be offensive; is very disrespectful. Order, can you leave the House Hon. Mliswa, leave the House!
Mliswa protested for being forced to leave the house for mentioning the Gukurahundi issue. He said:
But you cannot kick me out. Did Gukurahundi not happen under Zanu PF? So, why remove me from the house for telling the truth?
You are kicking me out of the house for bringing up the issue of Gukurahundi, are you serious about that?
Gukurahundi is a term used to refer to disturbances in Matabeleland and Midlands in the 1980s which resulted in the death of an estimated 20 000 Ndebele people.
It was carried out by the North Korean-trained 5th Brigade which was an elite regiment of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
Gukurahundi is derived from a Shona language term that loosely translates to “the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains”.
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