Zimbabwean parliamentarians have threatened to derail the southern African country's proposed 2012 national budget vowing not to pass it unless their demands are met.

The legislators claim the proposed budget did not cater for their needs and have threatened to attend parliamentary sessions in overalls, since they could not afford suits.

Some of their grievances stem from that they claim they are owed $30 00 each, as they have not been paid their sitting allowances since they were voted into parliament in 2008.

The coalition government has claimed it did not have sufficient funds to pay the parliamentarians, but this has not been enough to placate the increasingly restive legislators.


It is reported that the parliamentarians have also demanded luxury vehicles, which match their status, but these cries have so far fell on deaf ears.

Zimbabwean Finance Minister, Tendai Biti last Thursday presented a budget proposal of $4 billion.

Biti, a lawyer from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T party, described his budget as pro poor, but left legislators seething that they were not catered for.

Section 103(1) of the constitution states that parliament's financial year ends on January 31 and the lawmakers hope to exploit this in an effort to arm twist the finance minister.



Paddy Zhanda of Zanu PF, chairman of an inter-party welfare committee for members of parliament, said the legislators felt the executive had taken them for granted for too long, hinting that it was time for MPs to flex muscles.



"We are not going to rush to approve the budget. We have up to 31 January next year to debate it. Firstly, the government has to pay our outstanding allowances if they want us to approve it," he said.

MPs are supposed to get about $500 salary per month and are also entitled to a $75 allowance per sitting.

They claim that they can no longer afford dressing in suits and taking them for dry cleaning to maintain their social status, hence they would attend sessions in casual wear.

This will not be the first time legislators have clashed with the executive over the budget.

Last year, Vice President Joice Mujuru and Tsvangirai had to whip the legislators into line for them to approve the budget after they raised similar concerns.