In her application at the Constitutional Court, former MDC-T Vice President Thokozani Khupe accused Parliament of failing to protect her tenure as a Member of Parliament as required by Sections 119(1) and 129 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, when it endorsed her expulsion from the National Assembly.
In a Constitutional Court application challenging her expulsion from Parliament, Khupe cites Parliament, Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda and MDC-T chairman Mr Morgan Komichi as respondents. Through her lawyer Professor Lovemore Madhuku, Khupe wants an order declaring that Parliament failed to fulfil its constitutional obligation to protect her tenure as MP. She also wants the court to reinstate her as Member of Parliament, including declaring Komichi’s letter to Parliament, which was written in terms of Section 129(1)(k) of the Constitution, null and void.
Khupe argues that Parliament has an obligation to protect the tenure of an MP as provided for by Section 129(1)(k) and 129 until the dispute relating to the requirements in Section 129(1)(k) has been resolved by the courts. She further argues that it is also the duty of Parliament to invite a court to resolve the dispute given its constitutional obligation to protect the tenure of seats of its members. Khupe states that Parliament has a constitutional obligation not to recognise a written notice from one factions without either taking the matter to court or referring the parties concerned to a court for determination.
More: Herald
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