MEMBERS OF the judiciary loyal to President Robert Mugabe are trying to erode his political rival’s parliamentary majority through the courts by jailing Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MPs, the party has alleged.
The former opposition party, which has been in a transitional government with Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party since last February, has accused biased judges and prosecutors of “going after” MDC MPs on trumped-up charges and then seeking and handing down stiff jail sentences on conviction.
The MDC made the allegation this week after the fourth party deputy in a month was sentenced to a jail term of more than a year. A sentence of six months or more automatically disqualifies an MP from holding a parliamentary seat.
Member of parliament Ernest Mudavanhu was jailed on Tuesday for 18 months having been convicted of selling for profit 20 tonnes of fertiliser last year given to him as part of a state programme to boost agricultural production.
In total five MDC MPs have been jailed since the transitional government came into existence six months ago and a further 11 are facing charges ranging from fraud to abusing government farming input programmes.
Despite the murder last year of about 200 MDC supporters and the torture of thousands more during Mr Mugabe’s campaign to get re-elected as president, no senior official from Zanu-PF has been prosecuted over human rights abuses.
“It is total victimisation,” said MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa. “Zanu-PF is determined to erode the MDC’s majority in parliament by using the coercive apparatus of the state. It is a case of the guilty ones prosecuting the innocent.”
Some analysts are suggesting the purging of MDC deputies may be a ploy by Zanu-PF to regain control of the lower house before MPs vote on whether to accept or reject a new constitution, which must be ratified before the next general election.
While the MDC controls the lower house, their majority is small. Following the 2008 general election both MDC parties secured 109 seats in the 210-seat House of Assembly, with Zanu-PF and one independent winning the remaining 101 seats.
Although MDC party president Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, lost out to Mr Mugabe for the presidency – after he pulled out of the presidential election run-off with his nemesis because of widespread violence – winning control of parliament was viewed as a significant blow to Zanu-PF.
Since independence in 1980 Zanu-PF has controlled parliament, which has enabled Mr Mugabe to introduce easily laws and constitutional amendments that have tightened his grip on power.
To date two MDC MPs jailed for more than six months have been suspended from parliament by clerk of parliament Austin Zvoma, a Zanu-PF member, even though they have both appealed their convictions.
Excluding the recent suspension of the MDC MPs, a further seven parliamentary seats are available following the expulsion of three MPs from Arthur Mutambara’s breakaway MDC faction and a number of deaths.