MDC-T's bid to oust Kereke fails

Speaker of National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda, yesterday ruled that Bikita West Member of Parliament, Munyaradzi Kereke never ceased to be a member of Zanu-PF and therefore did not cross the floor as alleged by the MDC-T.

Mudenda said the Constitutional Court did not rule on the political party affiliation of Kereke when the legislator challenged his expulsion from  Parliament.

The Speaker made the ruling in the Chamber following a point of order raised on Wednesday by MDC-T chief whip Innocent Gonese, who said Kereke's parliamentary seat should be declared vacant as he had crossed the floor by rejoining Zanu-PF in violation of the Constitution.

Mudenda said he wrote a letter to  Kereke last year advising of his expulsion on the advice of former Zanu-PF secretary for administration Dydmus Mutasa, whose letter has since been deemed to have been unconstitutionally written when the lawyers for Kereke and those of Zanu-PF struck an out-of-court settlement.

"Regarding his dismissal from Zanu-PF following his election on a Zanu-PF ticket, the Constitutional Court remained silent. The matter was settled out of court," said Mudenda.

He said in the out-of-court settlement, it was agreed that Kereke's letter of dismissal from Parliament had been premised on wrong grounds as procedure had not been followed.

It was on that basis that Mudenda ruled that Kereke remained Bikita West MP on a Zanu-PF ticket.

Soon after the ruling, Kereke rose on the front seat he was seated and jumped several times in celebration as Zanu-PF legislators cheered.

In his submission, Gonese said in terms of Section 129 (l) Kereke should lose his seat because he had rejoined Zanu-PF which he had vehemently disowned when he approached the Constitutional Court challenging his dismissal from Parliament.

Section 129 (l) reads as follows: The seat of a member shall become vacant if the Member, not having been a member of a political party when he or she was elected to Parliament, becomes a member of a political party."

Meanwhile, Gokwe Nembudziya MP, Justice Mayor Wadyajena yesterday moved a motion that the portfolio committee on youth development, indigenisation and economic empowerment which he chaired would table a report on its findings on Chisumbanje's Green Fuel.

The committee toured the Chisumbanje plant last year and received evidence from several stakeholders about operations at the Lowveld based firm.

Some of the stakeholders included  villagers, management of green-fuel, Environmental Management Agency  (EMA), among others.

In its evidence EMA said they had fined Green Fuel several times for discharging effluent into rivers thereby polluting rivers downstream something that had adverse effect on people and livestock.