Harare, Zimbabwe. (News Of The South) – Various Members of Parliament have denigrated the whipping system used to control members according to party positions and preferences alleging that the move limits their ability to debate freely in Parliament.
Speaking during a Transparency International training of Parliament on access to justice members from across the political divide were unanimous that the system has great detrimental effects.
One female ZANU-PF member alleged that such a set-up hindered them from cross examining Ministers fully and cited the recent Zimdef scandal as an example where most ZANU members are party-tied from following up the issue.
“The case of Jonathan Moyo clearly shows how delicate the whole set-up is, we have a Minister who has plainly been corrupt but since he is from our party we cannot be at the forefront calling for his arrest and everything”.
“This is worsened by the factional undertones in the party currently, call for any drastic actions, and soon you are enmeshed in factional battles, just for doing your duty”.
“It’s unfortunate that we have a political systems that places more emphasis on the party more than the country and so sometimes you find that you are hindered from interrogating an issue or even a Minister who has blundered because he is from your party”, she said.
The MP alleged that any deviancy would result in one being whipped back into line through different measures.
“As an MP you are not really free to say whatever you want to say and that’s a great hinderance to the job since you will be whipped back into line if you are headstrong”, she said.
Another female MP from the MDC-T alleged that outsiders such as lobby groups could make more headway as compared to MP’s in pursuing certain delicate matters.
“We need the support of civic organisations and other NGO’s to advance certain agendas since as MP’s we are sometimes constrained by party positions from fully articulating certain viewpoints which may go against the party position”, she said on condition of anonymity.
However Monica Mutsvangwa shot down the sentiments and alleged that the environment is now different.
“The situation is now different, yes it used to be very hard for MP’s to exercise themselves but it’s now different”, she said.
In one example of the effectiveness of the system recent media reports allege that ZANU PF Chief Whip Lovemore Matuke has gagged party members from tabling contentious reports in parliament before the party has debated them at its headquarters.
Dr James Tsabora, a law lecturer at the Midlands State University also argued against the system saying it created a partisan august house whose effectiveness is very limited in debating issues.
The law lecturer however conceded that they was no alternative for parties to control their members and urged for an eased form of control.
“I have seen some parliamentary sessions and some are filled with a lot of booing and heckling along party lines and you are pained at the lost opportunity for progressive debate”.
“Currently we have a corruption case that has been muddled up into a factional fiasco and suddenly the legal nature of the case has been lost whilst all attention is now turned to the politics of the matter all without any parliamentary follow-up by associates who know very well about the issue”, he said.
Both MDC-T and ZANU PF have previously recalled their members from parliament as punishment for discordant behaviour and the fear for losing their positions in the august house have resulted in very partisan grouping of MP’s limited in their debating skills and reach.
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