Zimbabwe’s Parliament has ratified President Robert Mugabe’s decision to pull the Southern African country out of the Commonwealth, state media reported on Thursday.
Fifty-nine lawmakers voted in favour of the walk-out, while 41 voted against, after a protracted and heated five-hour debate that spilled late into Wednesday night.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has a minority in the the 150-seat Parliament, had early this week said Mugabe’s announcement to leave the Commonwealth was unilateral and therefore illegal since it lacked the approval of the Cabinet and Parliament.
Mugabe angrily withdrew Zimbabwe’s membership from the club of nations on Sunday, shortly after the then 54-member body decided to extend the country’s suspension for an indefinite period.
On Tuesday the Cabinet endorsed the decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth, which consists mainly of former British colonies.
On Wednesday, Parliament was asked to ratify the decision in retrospect, state radio reported.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Wednesday Zimbabwe had to resign from the Commonwealth ”so as to stop any further humiliation of the country”.
The MDC has been strongly opposed to the withdrawal, with party lawmaker Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga calling it ”a blatant disregard of the role of Parliament”.
Another MDC parliamentarian, party secretary general Welshman Ncube, drew parallels between Zimbabwe and the only other country to have pulled out of the Commonwealth, apartheid South Africa.
South Africa withdrew from the bloc in 1961 ”when the apartheid regime was facing the wrath of the Commonwealth over its racist policies, discriminatory policies. The parallels are very clear.
”We are dealing with a regime which is undemocratic, a government which is completely off the rail and has to be brought back on rail,” said Ncube. — Sapa-AFP