APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe’s main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has withdrawn its lawmakers from parliament following the illegal recall of some of the party’s legislators by an impostor early this week.
Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda notified the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on Monday of 15 vacancies in the lower house following the recalling of opposition legislators by one Sengezo Tshabangu who claimed to be CCC interim secretary general.
This followed a letter that little-known Tshabangu wrote to Mudenda last week withdrawing 15 CCC members from parliament as well as 17 councillors on grounds they had ceased to be members of the opposition party.
The CCC led by Nelson Chamisa has insisted that Tshabangu is not a member of the party.
CCC spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi said the party’s Citizens National Assembly (CNA) resolved at its meeting in Harare on Wednesday that all its members would withdraw from parliament and from local councils until the issue is resolved.
“Concerned about the violation of the Constitution and the continued subversion of the will of the people of Zimbabwe through unlawful recalls, the CNA resolved that all our party members in parliament and council disengage with immediate effect pending the reinstatement of those members of parliament and council recalled,” Mkwananzi said in a statement late Wednesday.
He said the party had given Mudenda 14 days to “rectify the error” but did not say what would be the CCC’s next course of action if the Speaker does not act on the issue.
Mkawananzi accused Mudenda of acting on Tshabangu’s letter despite earlier communication from CCC leader Nelson Chamisa on September 7 asserting that only he had the authority to withdraw CCC members.
He said the CCC had written to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) requesting the regional body “to help facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue to help resolve disputes on the elections and the legitimacy that continues to aggravate Zimbabwe’s deepening crisis.”
Chamisa claims that he beat President Emmerson Mnangagwa in general elections held in August.
The elections were criticised by SADC and other international observers as not credible after ZEC delayed in delivering ballot papers to known CCC strongholds.
JN/APA