By Paul Nyathi|Faction leading former MDC-T Deputy President Thokozani Khuphe has challenged her dismissal from parliament by the Nelson Chamisa faction in the Constitutional Court.
Khupe filed an urgent application at the Court in Harare on Wednesday seeking reinstatement into the August house.
Khuphe through her lawyer Professor Lovemore Madhuku is also challenging what she terms Parliaments’ failure to fulfil its constitutional obligation to protect the security of her seat as a duly elected MP and the leader of opposition.
In the application, Dr Khuphe and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) are cited as the applicants while the Parliament of Zimbabwe , Speaker of Parliament and MDC-T national deputy chairperson Mr Morgen Komichi are cited as the first , second and third respondents.
“At the core of this application is my contention that the first respondent, in arbitrarily announcing that I had lost my seat in circumstances where no reasonable Parliament could ever act in the same manner, failed to fulfil its constitutional obligation to protect the security of my seat as its duly elected member.
“I am approaching this Court in my own interests as a citizen of Zimbabwe, who was elected a Member of the National Assembly in the last general election held on 31 July, 2013. Notwithstanding the position taken by the first respondent, I believe that, at law, I am still a Member of Parliament,” read the application.
In her application Khuphe further claims that parliament erred in choosing to listen to our side of a party involved in factional fights without consulting the other side.
“From the foregoing, there is a failure by the first respondent in several respects. First, despite being put on notice by me in my capacity as a member and leader of the opposition in Parliament regarding the leadership wrangles triggered by the death of our president, the first respondent failed to fulfil the constitutional obligation of referring the issue to, or waiting for, a court of law before recognising the contents of the letter by the third respondent. Secondly, in the circumstances of this case, the first respondent acted irrationally in recognising the contents of the letter by the third respondent. I submit that no reasonable parliament could ever have recognised the contents of the third respondent’s purported written notice,” said Khuphe.
She said she believed that the matter was extremely urgent as parliament is currently discussing critical matters she wants to be involved in.
“I am the leader of a political party and my absence from Parliament seriously prejudices not only my political career but also the interests of my party and the electorate. Parliament is currently debating electoral reforms ahead of the next elections. I have an electoral mandate to be involved at this crucial period,” read the application.
Khuphe demands that the Chamisa led faction and the parliament bear the costs of her application.
‘That the Respondents (if they oppose this application) jointly and severally pay the costs of this application the one paying the others to be absolved,” read the draft order.