Mwonzora Opposes MDC MPs High Court Appeal Against Their Recall While Mudzuri Tells Him To Stop Destroying The MDC.
19 May 2020
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Elias Mudzuri

Own Correspondent|The Secretary of the opposition MDC-T, Douglas Mwonzora has approached the High Court seeking to oppose a challenge that was made by four MDC Alliance legislators whom they had recalled from Parliament.

Mwonzora argued in the court papers that the MDC-T had recalled the quartet, Chalton Hwende and three other legislators, Lillian Timveous, Prosper Mutseyami and Tabitha Khumalo for insisting that they belonged to the MDC Alliance and not MDC-T.

He also said that the MDC Alliance was merely a faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that was left by the late former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, therefore, the expulsion of the four lawmakers was legal.

This comes after the four Members of Parliament approached the High Court challenging their expulsion from parliament.

They argued that they belonged to MDC Alliance which was another party different from the MDC-T which is now headed by Thokozani Khupe following the Supreme Court ruling on the MDC leadership crisis.

Meanwhile, MDC veteran Elias Mudzuri whose side in the MDC saga remains unclear has called on Mwonzora to stop recalling more opposition MPs from parliament, adding this defeated the overall objective of the party to hold government to account.

In an interview with online media on Monday, Mudzuri felt recalling more MPs was only meant to settle petty personal fights and was unhealthy for the MDC.

“I don’t enjoy anyone getting out of Parliament. I don’t want that to happen, as a senior member, those people have worked in their own different ways whether they went there (Parliament) by hook or crook but they are there representing the MDC,” Mudzuri said.

“We don’t want to withdraw parliamentarians. Why should we want them not to work for the people? Their job is within their constituencies.

“We are less than a third of (opposition) parliamentarians, we must make this government account, especially at this time of COVID-19. They must be able to do what is necessary. They must be able to bring food to hungry people who have not been going to work, they must bring medication where ever is necessary.”

Mudzuri reminded Mwonzora that the power to recall MPs rested with the party and not an individual.

“The power is not with Mwonzora, the power to withdraw MPs is with the MDC which was left by Morgan Tsvangirai,” he said.

“You see why it has gone to that extent is because people are stuck. I wouldn’t call it lack of maturity, but I would say lack of understanding good governance and lack of statesman craft-ship.”

“There were two letters, one was calling for the withdrawal from Parliament of Mwonzora, Morgen Komichi and myself written by Hwende, while the other written by Mwonzora is recalling those four party legislators.

“This not good at all. Let’s look at the (Supreme Court) judgment first and we move forward,” Mudzuri said.

Meanwhile, the High Court on Monday deferred to Wednesday the hearing of the challenge by the four MPs and this, therefore, means that MDC-T cannot recall MDC Alliance legislators until the matter is finalised.