The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formation led by former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says it is recalling former Finance Minister Tendai Biti and 17 other legislators from parliament following a resolution at its congress that ended in Harare on Sunday to take this action.
But Biti’s and his colleagues are dismissing the move saying it is of no consequence.
The party’s newly elected secretary general, Douglas Mwonzora, wrote to Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda and Senate president, Edna Madzongwe, recalling Biti and his colleagues, who broke away from the main opposition to form a splinter party that they are calling MDC Renewal Team.
MDC-T’s newly elected spokesperson, Obert Gutu, told a news conference at his party’s Harvest House headquarters that the ejection of Biti and others from parliament is a follow up to some of the resolutions made a few days ago.
But the spokesperson of the MDC Renewal Team, Jacob Mafume, told Studio 7 that the actions taken by the MDC-T were of no consequence.
Meanwhile, Gutu said the MDC-T will boycott all future elections if key democratic reforms were not implemented before those polls. If parliament reacts positively to the Mwonzora’s letter, the Speaker of Parliament would be required by law to declare the seats vacant resulting in by-elections.
If the ruling Zanu PF party does not implement any electoral reforms and chooses to go for elections without the MDC-T’s participation, Zanu PF will increase its representation in parliament.
Assuming the MDC-T decides to participate and goes on to win in those by-elections, its victory would not change anything because Zanu PF already enjoys a majority in both houses of parliament.
The MDC-T claimed that last year’s national elections were fundamentally flawed while President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party maintain that they won freely and fairly.