Zim MP rapped for 'prostitute' taunt at UK official

Zim MP rapped for 'prostitute' taunt at UK official

CONTROVERSIAL: Job Sikhala

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By Staff Reporter

CONTROVERSIAL ST Mary’s MP Job Sikhala on Tuesday stunned the Zimbabwean Parliament with sensational claims that UK Conservative government Foreign Secretary Baroness Lynda Chalker was 'loose' and involved in a relationship with an unnamed official of President Mugabe's government.

During a debate on claims by ruling Zanu PF MPs that the MDC was a 'puppet' party of the West, Sikhala sought to prove that Mugabe's party had received a lot of support from the UK Conservative government between 1980 and 1997, before dropping the bombshell on Chalker.

This forced Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge to intervene, strongly admonishing Sikhala saying his claims could not be proved.

Although Sikhala DID NOT exactly say Chalker -- the Foreign Secretary between 1986 and 1997 and a House of Lords life member -- was a prostitute, Mudenge made this clear in response to Sikhala's inferences.

Mudenge went on to dissociate the government from Sikhala's claims that Chalker was "a prostitute and of loose morals'.

The debate was precipitated by a recent statement by British premier Tony Blair, in response to a question in Parliament, when he said his government was 'working with the MDC' in relation to targeted sanctions against Mugabe's regime.

Mugabe's supporters seized on this, claiming it was proof that the opposition party was a puppet organisation taking instructions from London. The MDC says not only was Blair's atatement taken out of contest but the claims are ludicrous propaganda peddled by the ruling party.
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