Zimbabwe MP says violence is so pervasive that every politician wants to have an army to deal with opponents

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  That is not a point of order.

HON. MLISWA:  I went before the courts and I was acquitted.  I do not know if you know of any other court that convicted me.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Can you continue with your debate?

HON. MLISWA:  I was acquitted because I was not there.  On a more serious note, I seriously want to commend Hon. Chamisa.  I follow him on tweeter and I think it was very good of you to be able to do that but next time, find others from ZANU PF who are there so that you can also give solace to them as a lawyer – [AN HON. MEMBER:  And pray for them.] –

I was to talk about Ambassador Stevenson situation where we all know that there was a machete which was brought out because she disagreed with MDC on her thoughts.  As a result, she went to join Prof. Welshman Ncube’s MDC.  These are examples which I am giving which we have done nothing about as political parties to address.  This issue is serious because we are going towards elections. What happens is that it seems to be a training ground for people to exercise beating each other for the grand finale which is the election. Unfortunately, there is not much being done by the political parties to address this.  If there is anything, more is happening.

I will also talk on the other side, ZANU PF.  Just recently…

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Member, can you stick to the motion of the debate?

HON. MLISWA:  No, the motion is very clear.  I am on strongly condemning political parties perpetrating acts of violence.  These are parties that I am taking about.  I am within that Mr. Speaker Sir.

I also want to talk about ZANU PF where in Bulawayo, Lacoste and G40; even the Vice President himself was involved.  So, if you are having a leader at that level getting involved in violence, even going to the police station, where are we going as a country? – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – So, to me you have a situation where it is political parties –  moreso ZANU PF is the party that is actually governing the country, they should lead by example. If I go through the Constitution here, it is very clear as to the functions of the Commissioner General, the functions of the police.  It does not talk about the Vice President being in charge of the police but it talks about the President appointing the Commissioner General, in consultation with the Minister.

The Vice President has got the power to send the Minister to go and check but he decides to go himself.  What message are we sending to the nation because he belongs to a faction within the party that has been beaten up and he is now going to defend them?  It is totally unacceptable and I think it is important that we have leaders who lead by example.

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