By Anyway Yotamu
Zanu PF legislator for Matabeleland North Province women’s quota, Elizabeth Masuku, was humiliated in Parliament on Wednesday for wearing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s scarf during a question-and-answer session.
Masuku was ordered to remove the scarf by Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda after a point of order was raised by Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) lawmaker for Warren Park, Shakespeare Hamauswa.
“Arising from the way you have kept the decorum of this House up to date, there is a way in which you have kept the decorum of this House in terms of dressing. I have seen Hon. Elizabeth Masuku putting on a scarf which was not allowed in this House. I do not know if anything has changed in terms of policy over the decorum of this House where a scarf is now allowed,” said Hamauswa.
Mudenda responded by referring to a 2022 ruling where members of the Citizens Coalition for Change were ordered not to wear yellow neckties in Parliament, which he described as party regalia at the time.
“Yes, we made a ruling three years ago and we abide by that ruling. Hon. Member, can you remove that scarf?” said Mudenda.
CCC legislators in 2022 then approached the High Court in Harare over Mudenda’s actions. Justice David Mangota dismissed their application, ruling that Mudenda was right in putting the MPs in line and denying that Mudenda had discriminated against them.
However, Masuku and other ZANU PF legislators protested the move by the Speaker of Parliament, saying it was a national flag.
“But it is not party regalia. Asi marwadziwa nei imi machinja imi?” she said.
“Mr. Speaker, we are saying a speck has been seen in my eye when a big log is lying in the eye of the other person speaking. We spoke about the flag and Zimbabwe bird on a scarf when the same ruling says we bar all yellow from your left, but there is a lot of yellow on the other side,” said Bindura South MP Remigio Matangira.
“For the benefit of the Honourable Members, Hon. Speaker, I am one of the members who was here in this House when you made a ruling. Some female Members of Parliament were putting on yellow clothes, and the males were putting on yellow ties. You made a ruling that they were not allowed to put on that, and the scarf was not allowed. I just wanted to remind you, Hon. Speaker,” said Mberengwa MP Tafanana Zhou.
President Mnangagwa has worn the scarf ubiquitously since 2018. The scarf, in the colors of the Zimbabwe flag, was an accidental fashion accessory for Mnangagwa after he wore it to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
It was perfect for the freezing Swiss mountain village in mid-winter, where Zimbabwe’s then new leader was anxious to attract urgent investment to revive an economy that has been on its knees for over a decade.
But after the scarf made its debut on the BBC and CNN, Mnangagwa and his officials were convinced it could be used to sell Zimbabwe abroad, although the success of it remains undetermined.
