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Zvamaida Murwira Harare Bureau
PARLIAMENT plans to take legal action against 35 MPs expelled by both Zanu-PF and MDC-T after they failed to pay for vehicles procured for them through a parliamentary loan scheme when they were still legislators. Zanu-PF expelled a number of legislators who were associated with former Vice President Joice Mujuru in her plot to remove President Mugabe from power unconstitutionally.

The MDC-T led by Morgan Tsvangirai dismissed 21 legislators after they joined the MDC Renewal Team led by Tendai Biti. The dismissed legislators have not presented payment plans to Parliament.

In an interview, Clerk of Parliament Kennedy Chokuda said they had written to the MPs demanding payment. “We’ve written to all the affected MPs about the need for them to pay for the vehicles. We want them to come and make payment plans. If that doesn’t produce results and if we encounter challenges, we will not hesitate to hand over the cases to our lawyers,” said Chokuda.

But some of the legislators said they had fallen on hard times and were unable to pay for the vehicles. “It’s not a secret that the economy isn’t performing. Furthermore, we didn’t anticipate that we would be expelled hence there were no contingent measures we had put in place,” said one MP who requested anonymity.

Zanu-PF expelled a number of MPs, including Government ministers, for belonging to the Mujuru cabal. Mujuru was fired from both government and Zanu-PF after she was implicated in a plot to remove President Mugabe from power through unconstitutional means.