Paul Nyathi
MDC-T leader Dr Thokozani Khupe has bounce back in Parliament after her name was part of 15 others the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) gazetted yesterday as people seconded by her party to fill in seats in the National Assembly and Senate that fell vacant after the recall of some legislators.
Khupe and her MDC-T collegues were approved into the two houses by ZEC chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba besides massive objections from members of the public.
Chigumba had invited voters with objections to lodge them with her office before the nominations were confirmed.
Over 000 voters responded to the call to send in objections .
Zec chief elections officer Utloile Silaigwana confirmed to media last week that the electoral body had received the objections and was in the process of verifying if they complied with the terms of the Electoral Act.
“We have received the volumes of objections, but as you might be aware, the closing date for their receipt was yesterday (Friday last week), so we have not gone through them as yet. We have to verify to see if they were submitted in terms of the electoral law. If they are valid, there is a provision to disqualify someone from occupying the seat,” Silaigwana said.
According to the Electoral Act, as soon as possible after the last day for the lodging of objections, if no objection to the party-list candidate has been received or, having considered every objection received, it finds that there are no valid grounds for objecting to the candidature, Zec must notify the public by notice in the Government Gazette that the person nominated to fill the vacancy has been appointed as a Senator or member of the National Assembly.
It provides that “having considered every objection received, and having found that there are valid grounds for objecting to the candidature, afford the political party concerned to make representations on the matter”.
“If, having considered any representations of the political party received in terms of subsection (7)(b), the Commission is still of the view that there are valid grounds for objecting to the candidature, the Commission shall proceed in accordance with subsection (4)(a), and subsections (5), (6) and (7) shall thereafter apply until a qualified person is identified to fill the vacancy concerned,” the Act reads.
On Friday, Chigumba, announced, in the extraordinary gazette, the appointment of seven proportional representation parliamentarians, including Khupe to Parliament.
Other proportional representative MPs who were appointed are Musarurwa Yvonne, Moyo Lindani, Sawuke January, Munochinzwa Memory, Sibanda Lwazi, Mokone Sipho, and senators Tamani Moyo, Piniel Denga, Kalpani Pugeni, Gertrude Moyo, Chief Ndlovu, Nomalanga Khumalo and Teti Chisorochengwe.