Chaos in Parliament over Gukurahundi

TEMPERS flared in Parliament yesterday when Zanu-PF Makoni South MP Mandi Chimene pointed a threatening finger at MDC-T Binga North MP Dubeko Sibanda accusing him of heckling during debate over the plight of war veterans.

Sibanda heckled while Small and Medium Enterprises minister Sithembiso Nyoni was debating a war veterans' motion which was introduced by Zanu-PF MP for Buhera Central Ronald Muderedzwa.

Irked by Chimhene's finger gesture, Sibanda teamed up with Nkulumane MP Thamsanqa Mahlangu and shouted that Chimene's Zanu-PF party was responsible for the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres.

Zanu-PF Mutasa South MP Irene Zindi had to intervene to quell tempers.

Muderedzwa said: "The (war veterans) board whose members were Vice-President Joice Mujuru, Zapu president Dumiso Dabengwa and the late Josiah Tungamirai was supposed to look after the affairs of war veterans, but these senior officers were too busy to do that, hence there was a problem that war veterans' issues were not addressed."

Zanu-PF Mutoko East MP Ricky Mawere said some people were living large while war veterans earned $175 per month.

MDC-T Harare West MP Jessie Majome said war veterans also needed psycho-social support.

Meanwhile, Zanu-PF Marondera East MP Jeremiah Chiwetu almost torched another storm when he said some MPs were just "like weeds in a plantation" and their presence in the House was only for purposes of chocking debate through heckling.