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BY DESMOND CHINGARANDESix MDC Alliance legislators, including vice-president Tendai Biti, who were expelled from Parliament, have been reinstated by the High Court.
Justice Joseph Mafusire ruled that Biti and colleagues, Settlement Chikwinya (Mbizo), Willias Madzimure (Kambuzuma), Sichelesile Mahlangu (Pumula), Regai Tsunga (Mutasa South), and Kucaca Phulu (Nkulumane), who were recalled from Parliament by a faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), retain their parliamentary seats.
The reinstatement followed another judgment by Justice Amy Tsanga that the alleged PDP secretary-general Benjamin Rukanda, who had sought their dismissal, did not actually hold that position.
Justice Mafusire said the six’s recall from Parliament was null and void and that Rukanda had no authority to recall them from Parliament.
“The first and second respondents were not members of the seventh applicant at the time of the 2018 general election. They have no power to recall the applicants … The power of recall from Parliament in section 129(1)(k) of the Constitution is reposed in the political party the Member of Parliament was a member of at the time of the election,” Mafusire ruled.
The opposition PDP has tried to have Rukanda arrested for fraud and perjury after he unilaterally recalled them.
PDP youth secretary for mobilisation Lloyd Madzimure reported Rukanda at the Harare Central Police Station under case number IR 041348.
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