Recalls: a bitter pill to swallow  for residents

 Providence Moyo

Residents  have expressed  their displeasure  on the recalling  of  15  Citizens Coalition for Change Members of Parliament calling them retroggressive and a flagrant  disregard of the will of voters.

This came out  during a  virtual  meeting that  was hosted  by  Centre  for Innovation  Technology  (CITE)  under the topic ‘Recalls of 15 CCC MPS: your  reaction’ this morning  where participants  said this move goes  against  will of people.  

One participant  Noel Sibanda  said the recalls must be challenged  as they render elections void.

“This unjust move should  be challenged  because its implications go deep towards residents  of the 15 constituencies  rather than   the MPs and this recalling  makes voting a useless process because  the elected  are removed and citizens are left stranded with no representation. Some voters  spent hours waiting for voting material on voting day which shows how dedicated  the electorate  are in electing  their leaders. Those leaders must be brought back to parliament  and exercise  due diligence for their communities,” he said.

Another participant with username  BBG Mpofu said  Tshabangu’s recalls are self-centred and inconsiderate.

“Tshabangu  did not consider  the impact  of recalls, especially  to the citizens who are in the diaspora  who had made efforts to come and vote in the country. These people  wasted  their resources so that one person could just wake up  and decide to do things the  other way round and steal the leadership  that was elected. Some of  us are based in the diaspora  but we made it a necessity to travel  back to the country  and cast our votes but those very same efforts  been in vain, this is painful.”

A political analyst,  Mutssy  Salani argued that recalls are akin to firing bullets towards the electorate  rather than the 15 MPs. 

“More  than  the 15 MPs who are directly  affected, the electorate  are bound  to suffer as there is bound to be marginalization  of the affected  constituencies  as they are deprived  of leadership which  means their  grievances will not be addressed  in Parliament. We are  talking about Matabeleland  which has a painful  history  when it comes  to service  delivery, without  representation this is bound to continue  but the electorate  had chosen their  representatives because  they had confidence  that the representatives would bring change  to the communities,” said Salani.

The Speaker of  Parliament, Zanu PF’s Jacob Mudenda wrote to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) confirming the recalling of the 15 MPs instigated  by the self proclaimed “Interim Secretary General” of CCC Sengezo Tshabangu.  Mudenda ignored CCC’s president Nelson Chamisa’s advice to disregard Tshabangu as he is not a member of the party. 

Meanwhile, 13 of the affected MPs, Prince Dubeko Sibanda, Bright Vanya Moyo, Velisiwe Nkomo, Jasmine Toffa, Sitabile Mlilo, Pashor Raphael Sibanda, Nicola Jane Watson, Eric Gono, Evidence Sunungurai Zana, Morgan Ncube, Obert Manduna, Janeth Dube, Desmond Makaza have since approached the High Court, challenging their recalls from parliament.