VICE-PRESIDENT Constantino Chiwenga yesterday suspended holding of by-elections to fill in seats for recalled MDC Alliance MPs and councillors, as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) confirmed in a Government Gazette the filling of 15 seats by MDC-T interim leader Thokozani Khupe and her acolytes. BY MOSES MATENGA/Blessed Mhlanga The by-elections were scheduled for December, but Chiwenga, who doubles as Health minister, in a statutory instrument suspended them citing COVID-19 fears. Khupe, who performed dismally in the July 2018 presidential election after garnering a paltry 45 000 votes, is expected to be leader of the opposition in Parliament. Thirty-two parliamentary and 165 council seats recently fell vacant across the country after Khupe recalled officials elected under Nelson Chamisa’s MDC Alliance, claiming she was the country’s official opposition leader. In his capacity as Health minister, Chiwenga amended Statutory Instrument 225A of 2020, Public Health COVID-19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment)(Amendment) Regulations, 2020 (No 4), to allow for suspension of the by-elections. “It is hereby notified that the Minister of Health has, in terms section 68 of the Public Health Act made the following regulations … these regulations may be cited as the Public Health COVID-19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment (Amendment) Regulations 2020,” the notification read in part. “Pursuant to subsection (2), the holding of any by-election to fill a casual vacancy in Parliament or in a local authority is for the duration of the period of the declaration of COVID-19 as a formidable epidemic disease, suspended, and if such vacancy occurred while such declaration is in force, no part of the period from the date of such vacancy to the date of the end of the declaration shall be counted for the purposes of section 158(3) of the Constitution.” In General Notice 2553 of 2020, Zec chairperson Priscillah Chigumba said: “It is hereby notified, in terms of section 39(7)(a) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13], that persons listed in the Schedule nominated by the MDC-T party to fill the vacancies that occurred among the party-list members of the National Assembly and the Senate following the recall of the incumbent members by the MDC-T party on the grounds that they had ceased to be members of that party, have been approved as National Assembly party-list members and Senators respectively with effect from the date of publication of this notice.” MDC-T acting spokesperson Khalipani Phugeni last night said: “Yes, I have seen the Government Gazette. I’m not sure as to when they will be sworn in as Members of Parliament.” Before yesterday’s announcement, most political parties had already hit the ground running canvassing for support ahead of the by-elections which Zanu PF recently said would have been a dress rehearsal for the 2023 general elections. Zanu PF and the led MDC-T yesterday welcomed the deferment of the by-elections, with Chamisa’s party saying the move exposed capture of State institutions by the ruling party. “We re