Political scientist Professor Jonathan Moyo has stated that Members of Parliament are not constitutionally allowed to resign from their elected positions with one political party and recontest under a different banner.
Professor Moyo made the remarks during CITE’s X-Space programme, This Morning on Asakhe, Monday, where the discussion revolved around the constitutionality of MPs resigning and running again for the same office under different political banners.
The discussion was prompted by the resignation of the head of the opposition Citizens Alliance for Change party, Nelson Chamisa, which led to some members of parliament and elected councilors resigning from their positions in solidarity with their leader.
Chamisa’s resignation came over allegations that the ruling party had infiltrated the opposition party.
He has since started another political movement with some loyalists who were victims of a wave of summonses by Singiso Chabangu.
Explaining whether the Constitution allows such behaviour, Professor Moyo categorically indicated that it does not. He pointed to Section 129 (1) (k) of the Constitution, which prohibits what he called “crossing the floor,” where an individual resigns from his seat, joins a different party, and runs for the same seat again under the new constitution. banner.
“This situation has arisen due to Chamisa’s abandonment of the CCC, with regard to the Members of Parliament and councilors who were elected last year. Now some Members of Parliament are considering resigning en masse to trigger by-elections,” Professor Moyo said.
“They do not want to resign and leave their jobs, as expected, but they want to create a vacancy and then compete for the same position under the banner of a different political party or movement that Chamisa is said to be forming. This is the backdrop that we have witnessed in the last two weeks with Austalos Sisipa and Chibaya who are said to be They test things controversially in search of this possibility or expected development.
Professor Moyo noted that if the CCC’s elected MPs and councilors resign in one go, it would lead to mini general elections to fill the vacant positions.
“It’s not about what the Constitution says, it’s about what happens in our body politic and how it is likely to happen in light of the provisions of our Constitution governing the resignation of MPs in particular. If they resigned en masse, it would be like a mini general election, and just five months ago there was an election He said: “The idea now is to hold by-elections through resignation as an act of solidarity.”
“My answer to whether this is constitutional is no!” They cannot resign en masse and hope to contest in the same constituencies under a different banner as they think. In my view, what these MPs (and councillors) want to do is to deliberately and systematically undermine the legislative intent behind section 129(1)(k) of the Constitution. They also want to subvert the general spirit of the legislature’s intentions.
Professor Moyo further stressed that Section 129 of the Constitution contains several sub-provisions that relate to how a vacancy occurs in Parliament.
“But in this case, section 129(1)(k) contains a no-confidence provision, read with section 129(1)(b), which deals with the resignation that occurs when the office becomes vacant when an MP resigns, for the Speaker of Parliament or “For the President of the Senate, and when that happens, by-elections need to be held. The impression here is that the resigned representative is qualified to run in those by-elections.”
“But the harm we are dealing with here is what the Constitution says after the MP resigns, and if that is allowed, it is the harm of crossing the floor. Does the Constitution allow ground crossing? No doubt the idea is for someone to resign today to create the vacancy for competition and fill the same vacancy tomorrow under a new name. This is a ground crossing and is not permitted. Site
