By Paul Nyathi|Masango Matambanadzo the only National Patriotic Front candidate in the House of Assembly may lose his hard won Kwekwe Central parliamentary seat after his party announced that it was closing down.

Party leader Ambrose Mutinhiri announced in a statement published by state media that his party which was suspected to be bank rolled by former President Robert Mugabe was closing doors and all its leaders going back to ZANU PF.

According to the Constitution of Zimbabwe, a member of parliament loses their seat when they cease to belong to the political party they were elected into the house under.

“We the founders, leaders and supporters of the NPF hereby inform the nation of Zimbabwe that the NPF has disbanded with immediate effect from September 19, 2018,” Brigadier-General (Retired) Mutinhiri said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The main reason for disbanding the party is that NPF has outlived its purpose. NPF was formed as a response to the events and circumstances of November 2017 that led to the removal of the previous Government of Zimbabwe and in our opinion we perceived it to be a threat to national security and stability.”

“However, after careful considerations and deliberations our party came to the conclusion that the November 2017 events were in the best interest of Zimbabwe as a nation. To that end, the existence of the NPF is no longer necessary. “As such we deem it expedient and appropriate to disband NPF and also to join and support the Zanu-PF party and Government in its endeavour to build a better Zimbabwe for all unity and loving and progressive Zimbabwe,” he added.

Mutinhiri contested the Presidential election on July 30 and lost dismally. Matambanadzo, with 7,578 votes, secured a razor-thin victory against MDC Alliance’s Blessing Chebundo who got 7,122 votes.

ZimEye.com efforts to get a comment from Matambanadzo have not yet been successful. It is not clear if the party has yet advised the Speaker of Parliament of its intention to wind up.