Former Minister of State in former Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s office, Sylvester Nguni, was expelled from Parliament yesterday and his seat declared vacant pending a by-election.
Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda said he had been notified by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front on 28 November that Nguni would cease to be a member of the party from 1 December.
It is therefore now up to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to set a date for the by-elections.
Nguni becomes one of more than a dozen senior ZANU-PF officials who have been expelled from the party since its 2014 congress.
Several other senior members are serving suspensions of between two and five years.
Full Statement:
VACANCY IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
THE HON. SPEAKER: I have to inform this august House that on the 28th of November, 2015, I was notified by the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) Party, that with effect from the 1st of December, 2015, Mr. Sylvester Robert Nguni ceased to be a member of ZANU PF Party. Accordingly, Section 129 (1) (k) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe applies and provides as follows:-
That I quote, “That a 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 maybe, has declared that the member has ceased to belong to it.” The necessary administrative measures will be taken to inform His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of the existence of this vacancy in line with Section 39 of subsection (1) of the Electoral Act, Chapter 213 as amended.
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