via Mutasa, Mliswa challenge Parly Speaker Mudenda – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 26, 2015
FORMER Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and his nephew Temba Mliswa, who are challenging their expulsion from Parliament, have filed their heads of argument, insisting that Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda had no legal basis to eject them out of the august House.
BY CHARLES LAITON
Mutasa and Mliswa’s application is set to be heard by the Constitutional Court next Wednesday.
Through their lawyer Tafadzwa Mugabe, they said the principles of the rule of law and good governance entrenched in Section 3 of the Constitution must be promoted in the interpretation of any Constitution.
“The Speaker or President of the Senate is not empowered to resolve any dispute between a member and his/her political party regarding any of the two requirements. If there is any dispute, no matter how frivolous or vexatious it may appear to the Speaker or President of the Senate to be, the rule of law and the principle of separation of powers requires that the dispute be resolved by the court of law,” Mugabe said.
“A political party cannot merely by written notice to the Speaker declare that a member has ceased to belong to it . . . In other words, a person is not dead merely because their death certificates had been issued.”
The two were expelled from Parliament last month following a fallout with President Robert Mugabe who accused them of working against the principles of Zanu PF.
Apparently, a nomination court is expected to sit on April 8, as government makes moves to fill the vacant posts, with the by-elections set for June 10.
COMMENTS