A legal expert, David Hofisi says the reconstituted MDC-T has the authority to recall MDC Alliance MPs, contrary to the views that have been expressed by some commentators.
Hofisi’s remarks come after MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora last week wrote a letter to the Speaker of Parliament recalling four MDC Alliance legislators.
Writing on his blog, Hofisi asserted that the MPs were recalled not on the basis of which party they represented in the 2018 elections, but to which party they belonged. He said:
<blockquote>The question is not, as suggested by other <a href="https://www.bigsr.co.uk/single-post/2020/05/05/BSR-Concerning-the-recall-of-MDC-Alliance-MPs">commentators</a>, which party they represented, but to which party they belonged.
Even the most senior members of Chamisa’s party <a href="http://www.davidcoltart.com/2020/04/giving-strength-to-the-weary-and-increasing-the-power-of-the-weak-comment-regarding-the-supreme-court-judgment-issued-on-the-31st-march-2020-against-nelson-chamisa/">acknowledge</a> that the MDC Alliance was only a coalition of parties during and immediately after the 2018 elections. It had no individual membership.
None of the MDC Alliance legislators belonged to the MDC Alliance – they belonged to their own political parties. These political parties formed the institutional membership of the Alliance.
If the MDC Alliance ever became a political party, this occurred after elections. Thus, the constituent political parties retained the right of recall in terms of the <a href="https://davidhofisi.blogspot.com/2020/04/mdc-alliance-old-wine-in-new-wineskins.html">Alliance Agreement</a> and the National Constitution.
The MDC-T was a member of the MDC Alliance. This is the party to which the legislators belonged in 2018 and it is the party under the interim leadership of Dr.Khupe.
In other words, these MP’s were recalled by the MDC Alliance, through its constituent party the MDC-T.
Therefore, Chalton Hwende’s <a href="https://twitter.com/hwendec/status/1257747627661242369">tweet</a> indicating that he left the MDC-T in 2018 is confirmation of the grounds upon which he was recalled.</blockquote>
<h4>More: <a href="http://davidhofisi.blogspot.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">David Hofisi</a></h4>

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Legal Expert Explains Why It Is Possible For MDC-T To Recall MDC Alliance MPs

Constitutional law expert David Hofisi has urged MDC leader Nelson Chamisa to do the “right thing” and go for the extraordinary congress as he will “easily” beat Khupe for the party presidency bring to finality the issue of constitutionality.
Hofisi contends that since Chamisa won over 44 per cent of the presidential vote against Khupe’s less than 1 per cent in the 2018 national elections, he has a huge chance of winning. <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidHofisi/status/1245932619201568769" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Said Hofisi</a>:
<blockquote>I don’t think anyone seriously believes a person who got 0.94% of the vote in the last election stands a chance against the one who got 44.39%. This is just a matter of process. Nelson Chamisa would win at the congress, why not just do so and bring finality to this matter.</blockquote>
However, some commentators argue that Chamisa will be committing political Hara-kiri (suicide) if he takes on Khupe as money will be used to manipulate the voting process.
Moreover, the ruling ZANU PF is thought to be behind the power struggles within the MDC and will use all the means at its disposal to make sure that Chamisa loses.
Only party delegates vote at a Congress and by the time the vote is done in three months, a lot will have changed and a lot of delegates would probably be in ZANU PF’s pocket and Chamisa will not stand a chance against Khupe.

'Chamisa Should Do The Right Thing & Bury Khupe Once For All'

Constitutional law expert David Hofisi said that the running mate clause has not been universally popular with political parties because it brought several tensions.
Speaking to <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/Petina_Gappah" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Petina Gappah</a> for newZWire on the recently gazetted Constitution Amendment Bill, which proposes a total of 27 amendments to the Constitution, Hofisi identified three tensions brought by the running mate clause.
He opined that the clause brought conflict between the candidate and his or her political party in the tussle to define who will be the future incumbent.
The clause was also unpopular because it sought to create an incredibly powerful Vice Presidency since he/she will be constitutionally recognised as a president-in-waiting and would be difficult to remove from office.
Another difficulty with the clause was that the vice presidents would stand to benefit directly from the death, resignation or removal of the president.
As such, the Vice Presidents could be tempted to undermine the President.
The running mate clause was supposed to come into effect from the 2023 election onwards. It required presidential candidates to declare their running mates and run on a joint ticket.
<h4>More: <a href="https://newzwire.live/on-constitutionalism-and-the-proposed-amendments-petina-gappah-in-conversation-with-david-hofisi/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">newZWire</a></h4>

Here Is Why The Presidential Running Mate Clause Has To Go

On Saturday afternoon <a href="http://www.pindula.co.zw/Linda_Masarira" target="_blank">Linda Masarira</a> and other activists were assaulted by members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police riot for sitting on the lawn at <a href="http://www.pindula.co.zw/Parirenyatwa_Group_of_Hospitals" target="_blank">Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals</a> in protest. The activists did not have any placards and were not singing or marching. Despite this, a truck full of riot policemen arrived at the hospital. The activists were assaulted before they were arrested and taken to Harare Central Police Station. The activists were protesting against the poor state of the public health system, while the president was enjoying a birthday party which is estimated to have cost $2,5 million.
All the activists were given an option to pay $10 bail or spend the weekend behind bars. All the arrested activists are being represented by Mr. David Hofisi from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
 
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CitizensAlert?src=hash">#CitizensAlert</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/lilomatic">@lilomatic</a> and other activists have been beaten and arrested by Police. On route to Central Police Station for siting at Pari <a href="https://t.co/WHzP3HXxVv">pic.twitter.com/WHzP3HXxVv</a>
— #FreePastorMugadza (@ThisFlag1980) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisFlag1980/status/835444998929776640">February 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
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