Tsvangirai's son shows Chamisa the middle finger

THE late MDC founding father Morgan Tsvangirai's son, Vincent, defied Nelson Chamisa's directive after he attended the National Assembly sitting yesterday.

This comes after the Chamisa faction directed their legislators not to attend Parliament sittings amid a bitter battle for the control of MPs between reinstated MDC-T acting president Thokozani Khupe, who has since recalled four legislators aligned to her rival, Chamisa.

During yesterday's National Assembly sitting, Tsvangirai was joined by other four MDC legislators Constance Chihururu, Joyce Makonya (proportional representatives), Winnie Kankuni (Sunningdale) and David Tekeshe (Makoni Central).

Makonya told the Daily News yesterday that Tsvangirai was defending what is right.

"We are encouraged by the coming of Vincent Tsvangirai. The son of our founding father knows what is happening and the right direction to take. He knows his father was for constitutionalism and he wants to protect what his father started," Makonya said.

Efforts to get comment from Tsvangirai were fruitless as his mobile phone was not available.

Meanwhile, Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda yesterday warned the MDC legislators who are not coming to Parliament saying the Standing Rules and Orders will soon be invoked.

"The missing MPs must be reminded that they took the oath of office and promised to represent their constituencies. They must respect the country's laws. It is not the responsibility of the chair to persuade them to come to Parliament. Parliament has the Standing Orders and Rules which can be invoked. It is not the responsibility of the Speaker to ask the party to appoint its chief whip. Parliament process will continue nonetheless."

The warning follows a point of order raised by Norton Independent legislator Temba Mliswa who argued that the opposition MPs must attend Parliament session because those from the ruling party are too weak to question Cabinet ministers.

The raging battle in the MDC has seen the recalling of Chamisa's allies, Chalton Hwende (Kuwadzana East), Thabitha Khumalo, Lilian Timveos and Prosper Mutseyami by secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora, which was ignited by the recent Supreme Court ruling that installed Khupe as the legitimate leader of the MDC-T and nullifying the 42-year-old politician's leadership.