Source: Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust
The National Assembly was this afternoon plunged into commotion as ZANU PF and MDC-T Members intensely argued over whether or not the jacket that Hon. Costa Machingauta (MDC-T Budiriro) was wearing was in keeping with the parliamentary dress code. Hon. Machingauta was donning a jacket with colours similar to the Zimbabwe National Flag. The Deputy Speaker, Hon. Mabel Chinomona deemed the jacket inappropriate and thus ordered Hon. Machingauta out of the House. The latter defied the Deputy Speaker’s order. The Deputy Speaker then ordered the Sergeant at Arms to escort Hon. Machingauta outside the Chamber and the Member resisted. It was then that the Deputy Speaker ordered members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) based in Parliament to eject Hon. Machingauta out of the Chamber. MDC-T Members objected to this as they argued that parliamentary procedures did not allow the police in the House. The House degenerated into disorder as the Police dragged Hon. Machingauta out of the House with MDC-T Members attempting to block the Police from effecting the Deputy Speaker’s order.
Operations of Parliament are guided by its Standing Orders, Constitution and relevant Acts of Parliament. It is important to unpack what happened in the National Assembly this afternoon by interpreting the relevant provisions of the law. Below is an analysis of the provisions of the law that the Deputy Speaker relied on in her ruling regarding the matter.
The pertinent legal provisions:
Section 25 (Arrests without warrant) of the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act [Chapter 2:08] provides that
Any person who creates or joins in any disturbance in or within the vicinity of Parliament whilst Parliament is actually sitting may be arrested without warrant on the verbal order of the Speaker and kept in the custody of an officer of Parliament or a police officer until a warrant is issued for his detention in prison.
Section 25 must be read together with section 26(1) (Execution of warrants, etc) of the same Act, which provides that
All police officers and officers of Parliament shall aid and assist in . . .
(b) the arrest and detention of any person in pursuance of a verbal order such as is referred to in section twenty-five.
The provisions of section 25 as read with section 26(1) are wide. They may therefore be interpreted to empower the Speaker to instruct members of the ZRP to arrest and detain a Member of Parliament for creating or joining in any disturbance in or within the vicinity of Parliament whilst Parliament is sitting.
Also pertinent to the issue is Standing Order 80 (Disorderly conduct in House) of the National Assembly Standing Orders which deals with the removal of a member from the precincts of Parliament by the Sergeant at Arms.
The Standing Order provides as follows:
80. (1) The Speaker or the Chairperson must order a member whose conduct is grossly disorderly to withdraw immediately from the precincts of Parliament for the remainder of that day’s sitting, and the Sergeant at Arms must act on such orders as he or she may receive from the Chair in pursuance of this Standing Order.
(2) Members ordered to withdraw in pursuance of this Standing Order, or who are suspended in pursuance of Standing Order No. 82, must forthwith withdraw from the precincts of the House.
A reading of both the Act and the Standing Orders shows that the Speaker has the absolute discretion to employ the services of either the ZRP or officers of Parliament to arrest and detain a Member of Parliament. Notably, these provisions relate to conduct occurring in or within the vicinity of Parliament and not to instances where the ZRP is seeking to execute a warrant of arrest on a Member of Parliament for conduct occurring outside the precincts of Parliament.
What may perhaps be a moot point is the question whether the conduct of the alleged offending Member of Parliament can be interpreted as creating disturbance (section 25) or grossly disorderly (Standing Order 80). Observers have lamented what appears to be a tendency towards issuing rulings that are partisan.
Source: Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust