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charges of contempt of Parliament he is facing when he appeared before a Parliamentary Privileges and Immunities Committee.
The allegations against Mr Gwaradzimba stemmed from an interview he granted NewsDay about two years ago which a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy alleged demeaned the integrity of the House.
When the inquiry commenced yesterday at Parliament, Mr Gwaradzimba’s lawyer Mr Simplisius Chihambakwe of Chihambakwe, Mutizwa and Partners, asked the committee to furnish them with several documents before the hearing could start.
Chivi Central MP Cde Munyaradzi Mangwana (Zanu-PF) chairs the committee.
“My client’s plea is that of not guilty,” said Mr Chihambakwe.
“We have been given the article of the newspaper which has 1 164 words and no word has been referred to as defamatory so that we can respond properly.”
Mr Chihambakwe submitted that the newspaper article did not reflect what Mr Gwaradzimba said as there was a distortion to “encourage readers to buy the paper.”
Mr Chihambakwe also submitted that from the reading of the article, no defamatory statement could be inferred from it.
He requested the list of witnesses to testify, what they were going to say, and exhibits to be used.
At one stage, the committee had to adjourn to allow committee members to consult among themselves.
After a 10-minute adjournment, Cde Mangwana said they were deferring the case to May 2 to allow Parliament to furnish Mr Gwaradzimba’s defence team with the requested documents.
The committee was tasked to investigate whether Mr Gwaradzimba breached the provisions of the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act.
This was after the Committee on Mines and Energy chaired by Guruve South MP, Cde Edward Chindori-Chininga tabled a report in the House last year, which among other issues, alleged that Mr Gwaradzimba might have breached Parliamentary rules.
The committee was tabling a report on SMM operations.
Other members of the committee are Women, Gender and Community Development Deputy Minister Jessie Majome (MDC-T), Mazowe Central MP, Mr Shepherd Mushonga (MDC-T) and Gwanda Central MP Mr Patrick Dube (MDC).
The charges stem from the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy’s damning report on SMM which recommended that Mr Gwaradzimba be investigated for contempt of Parliament after he allegedly made offensive remarks in an interview with NewsDay.
Last December, Speaker of the House of Assembly Lovemore Moyo said there was sufficient evidence to charge Gwaradzimba with contempt of Parliament.
Part of Mr Moyo’s ruling reads: “Examples of such utterances are that the ‘MPs involved in the investigation of the matter are not honourable, that they work for (Mutumwa) Mawere, that they are alarmists with special interest in SMM Holdings and that they were shouting at Gwaradzimba.’ These utterances establish a prima facie case of contempt of Parliament.”
Cde Chindori-Chininga and NewsDay parliamentary reporter Venaranda Langa have been lined up to testify.
Online Reporter