MP won’t stand down for Sibanda

August 24, 2009

New Zimbabwe.com
By Daniel Misi
24 August 2009

PLANS to secure MDC vice president Gibson Sibanda a parliamentary seat suffered a major reversal over the weekend after Insiza MP Siyabonga Ncube rejected his party’s request to step down and accept a posting as Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Senegal.

The Arthur Mutambara-led MDC is desperate to secure a parliamentary seat for Sibanda which would allow him to resume his duties as the Minister of State for National Healing and Reconciliation.

The Zimbabwe constitution stipulates that a minister should be an MP – appointed or elected. But the MDC exhausted its allocation for non-constituency MPs, leaving Sibanda stranded.

The party’s secretary general Welshman Ncube said: “The party had decided that first priority should be given to the Insiza MP (for Senegal ambassador). He declined and we are in the process of consulting.”

Last week, the party’s secretary for legal affairs David Coltart was hopeful a solution would be found “through an MP standing aside to allow him to contest a seat.”

Coltart said: “I think that we owe it to Gibson Sibanda to deal with this issue. I think as well that the time has come for the nation to realise that in Gibson Sibanda, we literally have a national treasure.
“We have a rare politician who is not materialistic, he’s not corrupt, he’s the same person he was when he was the president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions over a decade ago and to that extent, it is incumbent upon all of us, on Zanu PF, on the MDC-T and on the MDC-M to ensure that we create a position for him to make what I have no doubt will be one of the most meaningful contributions to the peaceful transition we are going through.

“I hope that that can be resolved through an MP standing aside to allow him to contest a seat so that he can take his rightful place in parliament and I look forward in the next few weeks to that issue being resolved.”

The Mutambara-led MDC has been asked to nominate one ambassador, while the other MDC formation led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has forwarded four names.