The National Assembly Speaker, Jacob Mudenda, said CCC MPs will have their travel allowances forfeited and their accommodation costs deducted from their salaries after they boycotted the official opening of the 10th Parliament by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Mount Hampden on Tuesday, 03 October.
Mnangagwa laid out the legislative agenda for the next five years and also delivered a State of the Nation Address (SONA) in front of ZANU PF MPs and diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe.
Addressing legislators in the Chamber soon after the official opening, Mudenda said CCC legislators will be sanctioned for violating Parliament’s Standing Orders of both the National Assembly and Senate.
Mudenda also the Leader of Government Business will consider if the opposition CCC should face more sanctions with regards to the Political Parties Finance Act.
Under the Political Parties Finance Act, political parties that receive at least 5% of the total votes cast in a general election are eligible for funding from the government.
The funding is provided to parties on a proportional basis, based on the number of seats they hold in parliament. The Herald quoted Mudenda as saying:
It is therefore clear that there have been some violations of those Standing Orders.
Members of the CCC have come to Harare after Parliament was summoned by His Excellency, the President and have stayed in hotels and have been given and facilitated their travel to Harare.
Therefore, there have been violations of these Standing Orders and in terms of powers invested in me as Speaker, I instruct the Clerk of Parliament to ensure that CCC members will not receive their coupons to go back home.
Secondly, their stay in hotels at the taxpayers’ generosity and commitment will be deducted from their salaries.
I further request the Leader of Government Business to look into the Political Parties Finance Act to find out whether further sanctions cannot be applied.
In an interview with The Herald, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, who is Leader of Government Business in Parliament, said:
If they continue boycotting they will cease to be Honourable Members of Parliament, so it is up to them.
The elections are done and dusted, they were sworn in which means it was an admission that the process (harmonised elections) was correct. So we are not aware why they did not turn up.
We feel that their absence is not significant, so we are now moving forward with setting up relevant committees.
CCC CCC spokesperson, Promise Mkhwananzi, had earlier told a local publication that the opposition party will boycott the event because it does not recognise the 23 August presidential election results.
Mnangagwa was declared the winner with 52.6% of the votes, while his closest rival, CCC candidate Nelson Chamisa received 43% of the votes cast.
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