Harare - Parliament was forced to adjourn on Wednesday as proceedings degenerated into a chaotic shouting contest between the rival parties after a Zanu-PF legislator tried to table a motion demanding that MDC leaders call for the removal of sanctions.
The commotion was triggered by a notice given by Zanu-PF's Mwenezi East MP Kudakwashe Bhasikiti that he intended to move a motion calling on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Deputy Arthur Mutambara to ask the United States and the European Union to lift sanctions.
The motion which would have been debated on Thursday in part "calls upon the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara to engage the EU, the British and the American governments to unconditionally remove illegal sanctions imposed at their instigation on the Government and people of Zimbabwe as confessed in the British parliament by foreign Affairs Secretary Mr David Miliband".
But the MDC legislators would have none of it and variously rose in protest, banging their benches, booing and jeering as Bhasikiti tried to finish reading the motion.
Zanu-PF MPs also rose in support of their colleague and hurled abuse at the MDC benches in equal measure.
The chaos lasted for up to 20 minutes with the Deputy Speaker, Nomalanga Khumalo struggling to regain control.
She was eventually forced to adjourn proceedings to Thursday after failing to establish order in the house.
Zanu-PF chief whip Jorum Gumbo said his party would proceed with motion vowing to "vigorously" resist any attempts to stop it from being debated.
"Once a motion has been read in the House, it stands accepted. That is why I took it to the clerks and we expect it to be debated.
"As far as we are concerned, the motion has been accepted because it was read in the House. One does not need to finish reading it," he said.
However his opposite number, Innocent Gonese of the MDC-T claimed the motion violated the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
"It is a violation of the GPA to debate the motion. That is why my motion calling for an investigation of political violence ahead of the June 27 Presidential election run-off was held at abeyance.
"Further, the rules of Parliament are that before a motion can be read in the House, the Speaker should have sight of it to see whether it is acceptable or not, which was not done in this case," Gonese said.
