Obert Gutu Threatens To Recall MDC MPs Who Defy Khupe
6 April 2020
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By A Correspondent- Former MDC-T Vice President Obert Gutu has threatened to invoke Section 129 of the Zimbabwe Constitution to recall all opposition members of parliament who will refuse to follow the dictates of the leadership of Thokozani Khupe.

Said Gutu:

“When the provisions of Section 129 (k) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe are activated, there shall be gnashing of teeth. When this happens (and by the way, it’s going to happen soon), then certain quarters will realise that the game has gone to another level. Kumagumo kunenyaya.” 

MDC Alliance MPs and Councillors have been issuing statements pledging loyalty to the leadership of Nelson Chamisa.

Section 129(1)(k) of the Zimbabwe Constitution says:

The seat of a Member of Parliament becomes vacant if the Member has ceased to belong to the political party of which he or she was a member when elected to Parliament and the political party concerned, by written notice to the Speaker or the President of the Senate, as the case may be, has declared that the Member has ceased to belong to it.

However political analyst and Constitutional lawyer Shephard Dube said the firing and recall of an MP is not as simple as What Gutu thought because the party has to follow the internal disciplinary procedure.

“What Gutu is saying sounds as if it’s a very simple thing but if we follow the spirit and the letter you will realize that it is more complex than that,” Dube said.

“The MDC Alliance members contested the elections under MDC Alliance and not under MDC-T. Remember there are people that came from the Welshman Ncube MDC and the PDP who are MPs. So how will Gutu recall them? In any case, there is legal precedence that an MP cannot be recalled if he is wrongly expelled from the party.

“Remember the case of Munyaradzi Kereke and Didymus Mutasa. In an out of court settlement, it was understood that Kereke had been sent a letter of purported dismissal by Mutasa on wrong allegations as Kereke’s dismissal from Zanu PF Party had not followed the Zanu PF constitutional process.

“Accordingly, the speaker of parliament ruled that Kereke remained a Member of the National Assembly, having been elected by the Bikita West Constituency under Zanu PF ticket and that he was a member of the Zanu PF Party.”-Online