By Tafanana Kwedu

The by-elections that the MDC-Alliance (MDCA) is clamoring for will not influence any legislative initiative in parliament as the ruling party, ZANU PF already has two thirds majority in Parliament, an official has said.

Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care, General (Retired) Constantino Chiwenga, on 02 October 2020, announced the suspension of by-elections that were slated for December 2020, under Statutory Instrument (SI) 225A of 2020, in terms of Section 68 of the Public Health Act (Chapter 15:17).

The by-elections were brought about by the recall of MDC-A Members of Parliament (MPs) by MDC-T, following a court ruling that confirmed Thokozani Khupe as the legitimate leader of the MDC.

ZANU PF Information Director, Tafadzwa Mugwadi said the by- elections were a waste of resources and time.

“ZANU PF as the ruling party won two thirds majority in Parliament to the extent that therefore whether there are by-elections or not, as they come whenever they are going to come they don’t affect anything numerically in parliament.

“ZANU PF has two thirds majority in parliament which means that all those pending by-elections even if they were going to be surrendered to the MDC-T or MDC-A by whatever mechanism they are not going to change anything because we have a thumbing two thirds majority, that means in terms of passing legislation it can be done with or without them,” he said.

The suspension of elections is in line with the World Health Organisation’s  guidelines that discourage gatherings, upholds social distancing and encourages people to stay at home and minimize movements.