New twist to Kereke saga | The Herald

via New twist to Kereke saga | The Herald October 28, 2013 by Caesar Zvayi Editor 

ZANU-PF did not resolve to expel Bikita West legislator Dr Munyaradzi Kereke from Parliament even though some senior party members made pronouncements in the media to that effect.

Dr Kereke remains Bikita West legislator after the Constitutional Court last week nullified his expulsion from Parliament in the wake of an out-of-court settlement agreed upon by Dr Kereke’s lawyers and those acting for Zanu-PF.

The full bench of the Constitutional Court, led by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, granted the consent order penned by the parties’ lawyers last week.

Documents in our possession show that even though the Zanu-PF National Disciplinary Committee met to deliberate on Dr Kereke’s fate, no resolution was made or adopted to have Dr Kereke expelled.

Dr Kereke ran on Zanu-PF’s ticket in the July 31 harmonised elections and romped to victory with 7 270 votes beating the party’s preferred candidate Cde Elias Musakwa who garnered 6 052 votes and MDC-T’s Heya Shoko who managed 3 863 votes, while Benjamin Katema of MDC weighed in with 415 votes.

Zanu-PF had asked Dr Kereke to stand down, a demand he refused to accede to since his papers had been signed by the party’s Masvingo provincial executive.

So began the Dr Kereke saga which reads like a soap opera.

While Zanu-PF has always insisted that any party member who stands as an independent automatically expels himself, Dr Kereke contested the elections as a Zanu-PF candidate neither did he cross the floor, which is the constitutional diktat for expulsion from the House.

Despite that, on October 3, National Assembly Speaker Cde Jacob Mudenda announced that he had received a letter from Zanu-PF disowning Dr Kereke and as such Bikita West constituency was vacant.

The NDC meeting at the Zanu-PF National Headquarters in Harare was attended by national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa, Cde Oppah Muchinguri, Cde Sydney Sekeramayi and Cde Sikhanyiso Ndlovu.

Cde Khaya Moyo and now suspended Masvingo provincial chairman Cde Lovemore Matuke briefed the meeting on what transpired leading up to the election of Dr Kereke on  a Zanu-PF ticket.

The minutes show that no resolution was made to expel Dr Kereke as the NDC only resolved, as a way forward, to:

Make its final recommendation after receipt and consideration of the minutes of the Masvingo Provincial Elections Directorate which was held before the primary elections.

That Cde Edmund Mhere was just an official who had to comply with directives of the Provincial Chairman and therefore would not appear before the NDC, and

That the matter should be concluded before the provincial elections scheduled to be held in two weeks.

Despite this, the next day Zanu-PF secretary for administration Cde Didymus Mutasa wrote to vice chairman of Masvingo Province informing him of the suspension of Cde Matuke and Cde Mhere even though the NDC appeared to have absolved Cde Mhere as “just an official who complies with directives’’.

Zanu-PF National spokesman Cde Rugare Gumbo yesterday said while the NDC may not have resolved Dr Kereke’s expulsion, there was an understanding that everyone in the Politburo wanted Dr Kereke out.

“The NDC may not have itself pronounced expulsion, but it was understood that the general feeling in the Politburo was that Kereke should not be in Parliament. That is all I can say,’’ Cde Gumbo said.

The Kereke issue, thus gets curiouser and curiouser amid reports that some elements in the party felt the secretary for administration, Cde Mutasa should in fact not have written to Parliament let alone involve himself since he was not a member of the NDC.