MDC legislators on Tuesday caused a stir after they walked out of Parliament during the state of the nation address (SONA) by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The Nelson Chamisa-led legislators heckled Mnangagwa’s address, signalling their discontent with his legitimacy since he won the 2018 plebiscite.
In their absence, Mnangagwa also officially opened the 2nd Session of the 9th Parliament. The MDC has always attacked Mnangagwa’s regime as illegitimate, hence boycotting his address today.
Analysts, however, question the impact of the boycott since the same MPs will debate issue Mnangagwa would have raised in his official opening address
“What is the impact of the boycott because Mnangagwa has already set the tone for the ninth parliament.
“It does not make sense at all,” said one analyst.
Zimbabweans reacted with mixed feelings over the boycott with one blogger on microsite twitter handle saying “The MDC did well to boycott the speech because they should never rent legitimacy to Mnangagwa.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the SONA address at Parliament, MDC national spokesperson Thabita Khumalo said they did not recognise Mnangagwa as the country’s legitimate President, hence the call for political dialogue.
“As a country, we can fight as much as we can, but we need dialogue. When we talk about dialogue, we are not talking about a church choir.“We want an independent dialogue with independent conveners who are going to conduct it,” Khumalo said.
MDC legislators have since the 2018 elections not attended any SONA address by the President, referring to him as ‘illegitimate’.
