Headlands and Hurungwe West parliamentary constituencies were on Tuesday declared vacant following a recall of former Zanu PF secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa, and former Mashonaland West chairman, Temba Mliswa, who were expelled from the party last month.
Some lawmakers burst into laughter when Mliswa bolted out of the chamber as Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Mudenda, announced his expulsion from the House. Mutasa was not in the chamber.
Mudenda said he received communication from the Zanu PF secretary for administration stating that Mutasa and Mliswa were no longer representing Zanu PF interests.
He said the two seats fell vacant in terms of Section 129 of the country’s constitution which states that a seat of a Member of Parliament becomes vacant if a member has ceased to belong to a party of which he or she was a member when elected to parliament.
Mudenda said though Mutasa had written to him that his expulsion was unwarranted and illegal, all that was required of him to declare the seats vacant was the notification from the political party concerned.
He added that the president and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission would be notified of the two vacancies.
Mliswa said he had no comment for now while Mutawa was unreachable. University of Zimbabwe Law Professor, Lovemore Madhuku, said the two have two options – either to accept the Speaker’s ruling or to challenge it.
He said the two should be given an opportunity to challenge the ruling.
