Former Energy Minister Dzikamai Mavhaire and former Higher Education Minister Olivia Muchena were booted out of the Senate on Wednesday, according to Parliament’s official record, Hansard.
The announcement was made by the president of the Senate Edna Madzongwe who said she had been notified by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front on 11 June that the two were no longer members of ZANU-PF and should therefore vacate their seats.
Madzongwe said she would now inform the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission about the vacancies.
Senate seats are now allocated to a party on a proportional representation system, that is, based on the seats a party wins in the national assembly.
Vacancies in the Senate do not therefore require by-elections. They are filled by the party but a female Senator has to be replaced by another female Senator .
Mavhaire and Muchena were among the seven senior ZANU-PF officials who were expelled from the party last month because of their allegiance to former Vice-President Joice Mujuru.
More than 140 other candidates were suspended from the party for periods ranging from two to five years. This means that they cannot hold any party position during their period of suspension but continue to be members of the party and hold their parliamentary posts.
Madzongwe’s full announcement:
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY MADAM PRESIDENT
VACANCIES IN THE SENATE
MADAM PRESIDENT: I would like to inform the Senate that on the 11th of June 2015, I was notified by the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) that both Hon. Calisto Dzikamai Mavhaire, Senator for Masvingo Province and Hon. Olivia Nyembezi Muchena, Senator for Mashonaland East Province have ceased to be the members of ZANU PF Party and therefore, no longer represent the interests of the Party in Parliament.
Section 129 (1) (k) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides as follows:-
“That the seat of a Member of Parliament becomes vacant if the member has ceased to belong to the political party of which he or she was a member when elected to Parliament and the political party concerned, by written notice to the Speaker or the President of the Senate, as the case may be, has declared that the member has ceased to belong to it”.
Consequently, vacancies have arisen in Masvingo and Mashonaland East Provinces by operation of the law. The necessary administrative measures will be taken to inform the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of the existence of the vacancies in line with Section 39 (3) of the Electoral Act, [Chapter 2:13] as amended.
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