Opposition members of parliament numbering 15 have reportedly filed an appeal in court to challenge a decision by the Zimbabwean speaker of parliamentary for declaring their seats vacant.
Jacob Mudenda, received a letter full of grammatical mistakes from a man falsely claiming to be the secretary general for the main opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
According to BBC, the letter said that 15 of the opposition MPs were no longer party members.
The CCC’s leader Nelson Chamisa had asked the speaker to disregard the letter that it lacks merit saying the party has no secretary general.
Speaker Mudenda ignored the opposition leader and declared the 15 seats vacant on Monday.
If nothing changes, a by-elections that could hand the ruling Zanu-PF party, which won a disputed election in August, a two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution.
The decision by the speaker of parliament on Tuesday affected the recalls of 15 CCC’s MPs resulting in mayhem as effected legislators refused to leave the August House.
The MPs slammed Mudenda for acknowledging the recalls by Sengezo Tshabangu, claiming to be CCC’s interim secretary general despite a letter from opposition leader Nelson Chamisa informing Parliament that all communication should come only from him.
They accused the Speaker of favouring the Zanu PF party which they allege is the brains behind the recalls, a ploy to secure a two-thirds in Parliament.
“It is not proper to only read the letter from Tshabangu and ignore CCC’s letters. If anyone brings a letter purporting to be Zanu PF, I do not think you will allow that to happen,” CCC’s chief whip Amos Chibaya stated.
Watch below some of the chaotic scenes in the Zimbabwean parliament on Tuesaday:
