Defiant MPs' jeers hint at hostile times for Mugabe

FEELING victorious and defiant, opposition MPs heckled president Robert Mugabe and questioned his right to preside over yesterday's opening of Zimbabwe's parliament.

The unprecedented scene – broadcast live on national television – set the stage for a combative legislature.

Tuesday's tension, with more hostile MPs than loyalists of the embattled leader, may be a glimpse into a future in parliament, previously a rubber-stamp irrelevance.

Mr Mugabe arrived in an open-topped vintage Rolls Royce and then proceeded to lambast the West.

He accused Britain and the United States of unleashing "a vicious onslaught" against his rule.

Mr Mugabe's speech was often drowned out by jeers of his opponents, who clapped and sang songs deriding him and his Zanu-PF party.

"Zanu is rotten. You are great liars," they sang.

Looking annoyed, Mr Mugabe first raised his voice, then raced through the final lines of his speech.

Opposition MPs presented a petition pointing out that the opening of the parliament was "a clear breach" of the agreement that led to power-sharing talks. It called Mr Mugabe "the illegitimate usurper of the people's will".

The petition also condemned the arrests of opposition MPs. When MPs reported on Monday to be sworn in, two were arrested. A third opposition legislator, who is in the team negotiating power-sharing, was arrested at his home early on Tuesday, the opposition reported.

Nelson Chamisa, an opposition spokesman, said the arrests are an attempt to subvert his party's slight majority in parliament.

Some 2,000 opposition activists remain jailed in Zimbabwe months after 29 March elections.

Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF had controlled parliament since independence in 1980. In March, Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change won 100 of the 210 seats. Mr Mugabe's party won 99 seats and a splinter opposition faction won ten.

An independent who broke away from Mr Mugabe's party has the remaining seat.

In parliament on Monday, the opposition's Lovemore Moyo won the race for speaker by a surprising 110 votes to 98. The ballot was secret, but Mr Moyo apparently got votes from both Mr Mugabe's party and the splinter faction to win a post that puts him in charge of parliament's debate and schedule and gives him the power to appoint committee chairmen.

Parliament's first order of business will be to approve funds for government ministries and projects – a budget vote that normally would have been completed months ago. So government business will remain largely paralysed until legislators meet again on October 14.

If the opposition continues to win support from the splinter faction, it would have the simple majority needed to block those funds. But if there is deadlock, Mr Mugabe could dissolve the assembly and rule by decree. It is unlikely the opposition could summon the two-thirds vote needed to impeach Mr Mugabe.