(NEWZIMBABWE) MDC-M expels three legislators

MDC-M expels three legislators
by Lebo Nkatazo
20/07/2009 00:00:00

THE Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formation led by Arthur Mutambara expelled three MPs on Monday and cautioned a fourth after a disciplinary hearing earlier this month. Abednico Bhebhe (Nkayi South); Njabuliso Mguni (Lupane East) and Norman Mpofu (Bulilima East) will all cease to be MPs when the party informs the Clerk of Parliament of its decision.

A fourth MP, Maxwell Dube (Tsholotsho South), was found guilty of a lesser charge and got away with a ticking off, the party’s disciplinary committee chairman Lyson Mlambo said in a statement.

Also expelled from the party was national executive member Alex Goosen, an ostrich farmer from Matabeleland North.

The move leaves the MDC formation with seven MPs and six Senators in the House of Assembly and the Senate respectively.

The MPs have approached the High Court seeking to annul the process leading to their expulsion.

Mlambo said the decision to expel the MPs came “after carefully analysing the evidence” of “conduct unbecoming and prejudicial to the interest and reputation of the party”.

The charges against the MPs related to rallies they have been calling in their constituencies and publicly denouncing the party’s leadership.

“In some cases, these individuals have been dismantling our party structures and lying to our members that there is now one MDC, headed by Morgan Tsvangirai, yet the truth of the matter is there is no such thing,” Mlambo said.

Action against Bhebhe had been expected. The MP invited the wrath of Mutambara after he was accused of voting with legislators from Tsvangirai’s MDC faction in elections for Speaker of Parliament, effectively scuttling plans to install Paul Themba Nyathi in the position with the support of Zanu PF MPs.

Bhebhe was also controversially nominated for a ministerial post in the unity government by Tsvangirai, drawing sharp opposition from Mutambara and Tsvangirai’s own officials. He was eventually dropped.

Mlambo said: “The party has a grievance procedure to be followed, but if somebody decides not to follow that procedure, and wash dirty linen in public, we don’t think that is proper.”

The expelled MPs walked out of a disciplinary hearing on July 4, saying they did not understand the charges of misconduct they faced.



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And last week, they approached the High Court seeking to stop the party from proceeding with the disciplinary hearings.

Mguni argues in court papers that during the time he was accused of holding meetings in Lupane to campaign for Tsvangirai, he was in the United Kingdom.

“As far as I am concerned, the allegations are too vague,” Goosen said in his affidavit.

Mpofu said: “I am accused of interacting with MDC-T or collaborating with their structures. I am supposed to have done this in the period June 2008 and April 2009. This is a period of 10 months.

“I will understand if I am accused of campaigning for MDC-T this year for that makes more sense.”

Bhebhe, seen as the ringleader of the rebel MPs, said accusations that he integrated the party’s structures with those of the MDC-T were inaccurate.

The MP also argued that the July 4 hearing violated the party’s constitution, which guarantees “open, transparent and democratic decision making processes”.

A power sharing agreement signed between the two rival MDC factions and President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party states that if any of the signatories to the agreement wishes to recall an MP, it can do so without facing a challenge from the other parties to the agreement.

That in effect would allow Mutambara’s party to cause by-elections to replace the three MPs in which Zanu PF and MDC-T will not participate. The deposed legislators can still run for re-election as members of another party or as independents.