Former
Mt
Pleasant
MP,
Fadzayi
“Iron
Lady”
Mahere,
has
described
the
current
Parliament
as
a
sham.
On
Wednesday,
22
October,
Mahere
explained
further,
saying
she
had
been
repeatedly
blocked
by
the
Speaker
from
raising
points
of
order
in
the
National
Assembly.
She
wrote
on
X:
“Why
do
you
imagine
that
the
place
that
they
call
Zimbabwe’s
‘Parliament’
is
some
magical
place
where
legislators
use
reason
to
debate
policy,
enact
legislation
and
exercise
oversight
over
the
Executive?“In
its
current
state,
the
place
is
a
sham.“Whenever
I’d
switch
on
my
mic
to
speak
or
raise
a
point
of
order,
the
Silencer
of
Parliament
would
turn
my
mic
off
and
order
me
to
shut
up
and
sit
down.“Of
course,
Zanu
MP
Enoch
Zhou
would
be
in
the
background
heckling
“hure.”
There
was
no
voice,
let
alone
voice
of
reason,
to
speak
of.“When
I
would
invoke
the
Standing
Rules
to
challenge
the
Silencer’s
unconstitutional
conduct
in
prohibiting
me
from
speaking
as
I
was
elected
to
do,
the
Silencer
would
order
me
to
leave
the
House.“When
I
refused
to
leave
the
House,
he’d
call
in
armed
riot
police
to
escort
me
out.
Often
a
suspension
would
ensue.“Weekly
fisty
cuffs
with
the
poe-poe
was
not
what
I’d
spend
hours
reading
draft
bills,
analyzing
policy
reports
and
scrutinizing
Cabinet
conduct
for.
I
sell
time.“When
all
is
said
and
done,
I
was
not
prepared
to
stay
and
pretend
the
place
was
an
expression
of
the
will
of
the
people
when
election-losing,
murderous
gold
smugglers
and
snake
oil
politicians
replaced
properly
elected
representatives.“I
foresaw
all
the
while
that
the
end
game
was
to
forcibly
drive
through
an
annihilation
of
the
Constitution
to
extend
Mr
Mnangagwa’s
term
limit
and
create
another
Robert
Mugabe.“My
conscience
would
not
let
me
participate
in
such
an
insidious
choreographed
charade.“How
would
I
explain
myself
to
the
thousands
of
constituents
who
had
voted
me
in
when,
after
5
years,
I
had
nothing
to
show
for
my
presence
–
except
a
corpse
of
the
Constitution
marinaded
in
corruption?“I’ve
been
jailed
for
tweeting
but
the
fact
is
–
they
can’t
turn
off
my
mic.”