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Parliament said it remains unfazed by threats to sue issued by Lovemore Madhuku on behalf of his client Tonderai Chidawa who is seeking to block the debate of the preliminary delimitation report in the National Assembly.
Chidawa, a Mt Pleasant voter, is seeking to block debate by Parliament on the delimitation report which he described as flawed as it has been rejected by some of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) commissioners.
Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda, in a letter responding to Madhuku said the debate on the preliminary report will proceed.
“The report under consideration by the Ad-Hoc Committee of Parliament was tabled by the President in terms of section 161(7) of the same Constitution. Parliament of Zimbabwe is obligated by section
161(8) to consider the report as tabled by the President and raise any matter or issue to be further considered by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
Parliament is empowered to raise any issues in the report including the issues raised in the letter if Parliament deems it fit to do so,” Mudenda said.
“The constitutional process which is currently underway is towards fulfilment of Parliament’s constitutional obligations. We also note that the basis of your client’s allegations is centred on a letter dated 6 December, 2022, addressed to the President by seven ZEC Commissioners and not to Parliament.”
“Parliament, in the interest of constitutionalism and democracy respects the report tabled by the President in terms of the Constitution.”
Chairperson of the Ad-Hoc Committee of Parliament Pupurai Togarepi said work on scrutinising the report will proceed despite the legal threats.
“Our mandate is to scrutinise the report and we are doing just that,” Togarepi said.
“Nothing so far has come to our attention that can stop us. Those challenging the report will not influence Parliament’s constitutional duty to analyse the ZEC report.”
Madhuku told Business Times that Chidawa was now missing following his letter to Parliament and suspected “politics was at play.”
“He (Chidawa) is not available yet and I haven’t heard from him. I have been informed by his relatives that he was picked by some men in a vehicle. If he was arrested by the police we will know that 48 hours expire early tomorrow morning. We are very much concerned about that behaviour by some members of our country. It might be some politicians who are very enthusiastic about the delimitation report and they take someone on the basis that he has exercised his constitutional rights,”Madhuku said. Business Times
