Impeachment vote postponed

Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) on Tuesday postponed proposed impeachment
proceedings against President Robert Mugabe after party officials failed to
meet with the Speaker of Parliament to discuss procedural issues.

, Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) on Tuesday postponed proposed impeachment
proceedings against President Robert Mugabe after party officials failed to
meet with the Speaker of Parliament to discuss procedural issues.

MDC legal affairs secretary David Coltart, speaking on a mobile telephone
from outside the office of the Speaker Emerson Mnangagwa, told IRIN that the
motion "will almost certainly go into parliament tomorrow", but added that
the impeachment process "will take weeks if not months".

The party intends to table a request in parliament under Section 29,
Sub-section 3 of the constitution to begin proceedings against Mugabe for
alleged gross misconduct and wilful violation of the constitution. The
motion requires the votes of 50 MPs, with MDC assured of the backing of its
57 parliamentarians, and possibly the single vote of Zimbabwe's other
opposition party, ZANU (Ndonga).

Although the constitution is vague on the details of impeachment, the next
stage of the process would involve the creation of a parliamentary
committee, appointed by the Speaker, to draw up a report on whether
impeachment is warranted. If the report agrees with the motion, impeachment
would require the votes of two-thirds of the country's 150 MPs or, in other
words, 42 out of ZANU-PF's 92 legislators would have to cross the carpet.

"If the speaker appoints a committee that is very sympathetic to the
president, they could issue a report dismissing the allegations," Coltart
said. However, "he would be ill-advised to do that. It would just anger
people even more as serious issues have been raised (in the motion)."

Instead, MDC wants public hearings of the committee and a secret vote, and
intends to present a parallel motion alongside the impeachment request
outlining its interpretation of the procedural steps contained in the
constitution. "We want to seek to regulate how the impeachment process is
conducted," Coltart said. "The motion will be filed at the same time as the
(impeachment) request".