Members of Parliament to face stiff action if they lie

THE HON. SPEAKER’S RULING

REMINDER OF RULING ON UNSUBSTANTIATED UTTERANCES

THE HON. SPEAKER: Yesterday, the 17th of May 2016, during the debate on Human Trafficking, Honourable Maridadi alleged that he had evidence of some Members of Parliament that were complicit in the abuse of women. He however, could not produce the evidence at the material time and promised to submit it today. Previously, the Chair has ruled in this august House directing Honourable Members to desist from making unsubstantiated “allegations against other Members and Officers of Parliament or members of the public except by way of a substantive and clearly formulated motion”.

In his contribution to the debate, Honourable Maridadi alleged that he was in possession of evidence imputing that some Honourable Members are accomplices to the recruitment of Zimbabwean women to Kuwait to work as slaves and promoting the abuse of women. He further alleged that an unnamed Member of Parliament owns a Night Club called the Private Lounge which is along Harare Street which promotes stripping of women to provide pleasure to patrons most of whom are men. When confronted to submit the names, Hon. Maridadi promised to avail the names to the Hon. Speaker today.

As a result, the Chair has noted with grave concern the persistence by some Honourable Members of Parliament to willfully disregard and defy lawful rulings made by the Chair in respect of adherence to peremptory constitutional provisions. By way of a reminder, and this being the last warning to the Members concerned and others, the Chair is again ruling as follows:

The Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act [Chapter 2:08] which guarantees the privileges of Members of Parliament, including freedom of speech is subject to the provisions of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. More specifically, Section 61(5) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides that freedom of expression and freedom of the media exclude:

(a) incitement to violence;

(b) advocacy of hatred or hate speech;

(c) malicious injury to a person’s reputation or dignity; or

(d) malicious or unwarranted breach of a person’s right to privacy.

Accordingly and as aptly specified in section 119 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe,

“Parliament must protect this Constitution and promote democratic governance in Zimbabwe”.

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