1. The recall of MDC Alliance Mps and Councillors by the MDC-T is legally and procedurally impossible. @ZimEye @JacobMafume @molokele @luke_tambo @hwendec @DrNkuSibanda
2.All the Mps and Councillors who contested under the MDC Alliance belong to the MDC Alliance, in total. There is no such a thing such as that there are Mps under the jurisdiction of some distinct political parties that don’t exist at ZEC or in Parliament.
3. Our electoral law does not provide for the system of coalitions. No one can register a coalition to contest an election. ZEC only registers political parties. Which is the same reason why the MDC Alliance had to be a political party & not a coalition inorder to register at ZEC
5. i.e the MDC-T alone would not be able to recall a member of the Alliance. All they would do is to make a resolution and ask the Alliance to write to parliament recalling a deployee.
6. For example, there are only ANC Mps in the South African Parliament. Parliament doesn't listen to COSATU or SACP because they all contest under the ANC. The SACP cannot recall Hon Blade Mzimande from Parliament. Only the ANC (coalition) leadership can do so.
7. Indeed even the then Alliance coalition MOU was alert to this reality. Parliament has no business involving itself in electoral pacts that are not provided for under our law.
8. In fact apart from the record at ZEC which culmimates into the Parliamentary register after election results, Parliament has no other means of identifying which of the many parties in a coalition, an MP belongs. Such means just don't exist because they are not needed.
9. Secondly, in other jurisdictions there is a parliamentary system called FLOOR-CROSSING where Mps are allowed to move with their seats from the political party they contested under to another party. The Zimbabwe Constitution abhors that system.
10. The purpose of s129 (1) (k) & (l) of the Zimbabwe Constitution is to specifically prohibit floor-crossing. Even a person who won as an independent is prohibited from crossing the floor. (Hon Themba Mliswa probably wants to rejoin ZANU-PF but he can't, he wil lose his seat)
11. Anyone who contested for a seat under MDC Alliance but claims to now belong to another party and relinquishes their membership of the Alliance floor-crosses and therefore offends the Constitution.
12. It also follows that no Mp can claim to belong to two different political parties. In parliament, you cannot say I ran under the ANC but I am a SACP Mp. i.e You cannot say I ran under the MDC Alliance but I'm a PDP or MDC-T Mp. That's just nonsense in Parliamentary terms.
13. For the entire electoral cycle, an MP must belong to the political Party he contested under. The party whose manifesto you sold to the electorate. If you don't belong to the MDC Alliance anymore, its you who has crossed the floor and you must recalled immediately.
14 Again, this is deliberate under our Constitution to protect the electorate who elected members believing that they will carry the mandate and manifesto of the MDC Alliance they sold to them. This protection should be respected.
15. In truth, only the MDC Alliance will have jurisdiction over Mps who ran under the MDC Alliance. You risk embarrassing yourself and any Speaker of Parliament who listens to you if you write to Parliament and say I am the MDC-T leader, I want to recall an MDC Alliance Mp.
16. No parliament should entertain such a letter. i.e Currently, only the leadership of the MDC Alliance, through its Secretary Hon Chalton Hwende can legally, procedurally and officially converse with Parliament on matters concerning MDC Alliance MPs.
17. Lastly, I am sorry but this is the reality of the coronaboys and all flies that follow their corpses to the grave. @ZimEye
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