Movement for Democratic Change opposition party leader Nelson Chamisa. (Photo by Zinyange Auntony / AFP)
Fifteen opposition lawmakers in Zimbabwe have lost their seats in Kafkaesque fashion after what they say is an impostor posing as a party official recalled them — and parliament went along with it.
The move has paved the way for by-elections that could hand the ruling ZANU-PF party, which won a disputed election in August, a two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution.
ALSO READ: Zimbabwe opposition faces wave of arrests after disputed vote
“We will not accept such disdainful conduct against our constitution and our democracy,” said Promise Mkwananzi, spokesman for the leading opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
On Tuesday, the 15 CCC MPs filed a court appeal challenging a decision by the parliamentary speaker declaring their seats vacant.
This was triggered by a letter dotted with grammar mistakes penned this month by a man named Sengezo Tshabangu, who, claiming to be the CCC’s “interim secretary general”, said the 15 lawmakers had ceased to be party members.
ALSO READ: Top human rights lawyers arrested in Zimbabwe
CCC leader Nelson Chamisa asked the speaker to disregard the message because Tshabangu was not a CCC member, the party had no secretary general, and had not expelled or recalled any MP.
“The conduct of Mr Tshabangu is in fact a wanton violation of our laws and a clear act of criminality,” Chamisa wrote.
Yet, on Monday the electoral commission received a letter from parliamentary speaker Jacob Mudenda, of ZANU-PF, declaring the 15 seats vacant.
ALSO READ: To avoid the Zimbabwe route, we must vote out Ramaphosa as soon as possible
The case is likely to worsen political tensions that have been running high in the southern African country since an August 23 vote that international observers said fell short of democratic standards.
Chamisa, 45, lost the presidential race to incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa, 81, of ZANU-PF.
The ruling party, in power since independence in 1980 also secured a majority in parliament but fell a few lawmakers short of the number required to change the constitution.
The CCC says more than a dozen people affiliated with it, including MPs and councillors, have been arrested on spurious charges since the elections.
ALSO READ: Let Zimbabweans settle their own disputes, says Mbalula