21 MDC legislators could be kicked out of Parliament

At least 21 legislators who were elected or appointed to Parliament on the Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai ticket could face the boot as the party is now asking for their recall because they left the party to form their own, the United Movement for Democratic Change. MDC-T Secretary-General Douglas Mwonzora wrote Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda and President of the Senate Edna Madzongwe last week saying the legislators had ceased to be members of the party when they broke away to form the Renewal Team. Legislators cannot cross floors under the current constitution. Their seats must be declared vacant if the party on whose ticket they were elected notifies Parliament. Mudenda side-stepped the issue last year on a technicality saying the matter was before the courts, but he is under pressure to make a decision following his ruling last week on two legislators expelled from the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, Didymus Mutasa and Temba Mliswa. Mutasa is challenging his expulsion from the party in court.

The legislators whose future is at stake are: