By Professor Mwambutsya Ndebesa
Hon. Zaake was physically tortured and injured by security. He was recently psychologically tortured by the deputy speaker Anita Among when she mocked him in a bad joke. When you are tortured both physically and psychologically you are likely to impulsively react.
Therefore those who are impeaching him are extremely unfair. Even in law judges consider circumstances. Zaake did not emerge from the blue to abuse Anita. There is a context and background. He was provoked. How does someone provocatively mock you and she expects you to say thank you madam speaker. Zaake is human. Anita should have been sensitive. She even made the bad joke during the debate on torture. That means she looks at torture as something to joke about and not to be taken seriously. There is a sense in which her bad joke implied after all those tortured can even win races so no problem with torture. Therefore in my opinion Zaake should invoke that mockery as a mitigating factor. He was provoked and his sensibilities were pricked by the bad joke of Anita. Her mouth was even masked when she made the bad joke and Zaake could not tell from the lips expressions whether Anita was joking or meant what she said. Those impeaching Zaake should seriously look at that provocation as a mitigating factor and just caution both Anita and Zaake to respect each other.