MUTARE- Recalled Mutasa South legislator, Regai Tsunga has vowed to continue serving his constituency until the lapse of his five year term.
In an exclusive interview with 263Chat following his recall from Parliament, Tsunga who was elected in the 2018 parliamentary elections under the Movement of Democratic Change (MDC Alliance) banner said he is open to contesting in a by-election to retain his seat if the electorate want him to finish his term.
“After the recall I will continue to work with people of Mutasa South constituency as I have always been doing.
“What has changed is that I won’t be going to parliament and contributing to debate but in terms of working with the people on the ground that will not stop because it’s now part of my DNA.
“I will continue representing people into other forums. So the recall to me is just academic than practical,” said Tsunga.
On participating in the Mutasa South by-election, Tsunga said he will be guided by his constituency as they gave him the initial mandate to represent them.
“I have a five year mandate from the people and I believe that has not lapsed because of this recall, what I might do is to establish from the people if I should contest the by election to finish the remainder of the term.
“If people think otherwise I will also be guided by that. It’s people which give mandate to represent them,” said Tsunga.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana has said they will lift suspension on voter registration and some field work on the 1st of April.
“The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) would like to announce that following the relaxation of lockdown measures of the Statutory Instrument 10 of 2021 on March 2021, the Commission will lift the suspension of voter registration and some field work it announced on January 08 2021. The resumption of suspended activities will come into effect on 01 April 2021,” read part of the press statement.
Despite not explicitly opening up for by elections, the ZEC announcement gives opportunity for democracy to continue as critics have been on government’s back for suspending fundamental rights due to the lockdown.
Tsunga however said the opposition will not be caught napping in the next elections as widely claimed by the ruling party insisting that they are actively pushing for electoral reforms.
“In regard to the confusion surrounding recall, I think by the time we get to the next elections proper in 2023 those things will have been streamlined to ensure that there is no repetition of this kind of fiasco.
“There is a lot of work going on in the background, for The MDC Alliance we have a framework that if perhaps we had continued in Parliament we are going to be pushing for its adoption,” he said.
