Saved by the surname: the MP who escaped Sengezo Tshabangu’s recall

How is your luck? … CCC MP Nomathemba Ndlovu was targeted for a recall by parliament but a typing error came to her rescue

BULAWAYO – A Citizens Coalition for Change MP escaped a recall by the rampant Sengezo Tshabangu after the self-styled party interim secretary.. general got her surname wrong, ZimLive can reveal.

Nomathemba Ndlovu, a proportional representation MP for Matabeleland South, was one of 15 CCC MPs and nine senators targeted for recall by Tshabangu back on October 3.

But when Speaker of Parliament announced the recalled MPs, her name was missing and her exclusion was never explained.

Tshabangu explained to ZimLive: “Parliament advised me that the surname was wrong, and the recall could not be processed because the error was significant.”

Tshabangu’s letter to the Speaker, under Matabeleland South, listed a “Nomathemba Sibanda – Proportional Representation.” The MP’s surname is in fact Ndlovu.

Tshabangu, dismissed as an impostor and a Zanu PF proxy by the CCC, has since made further recalls targeting 13 MPs and five senators but left out Ndlovu.

Tshabangu was non-committal when asked if he would attempt to recall her again – or she would be left alone after surviving one round of what should feel like a game of Russian Roulette.

“We will see,” Tshabangu responded.

The CCC has gone to court to challenge the recalls of its elected representatives which now stands at 27 MPs, 14 senators and 69 councillors.

By-elections will be held on December 9 to fill vacancies in local authority and parliamentary seats affected by the first round of recalls on October 3.

Had her recall been accepted by the Speaker Jacob Mudenda, Ndlovu would not be eligible participate in the by-elections as rules give the recalling party the right to simply replace a representative elected to parliament through the proportional representation system.

New lease of life … Nomathemba Ndlovu would be sitting at home today having lost her seat in parliament but for her surname
Ndlovu is into her third term as an MP after she first went in on an MDC-T ticket in 2013. She was again retained in 2018 but was recalled in 2020 by the signature of Douglas Mwonzora following a court ruling which declared that then MDC-T party leader Nelson Chamisa had unlawfully assumed the leadership.

Another recall would be a cruel blow to the Matopo-born Ndlovu, whose life has been a constant battle with adversity. She revealed in a 2018 interview that she was driven into politics by the loss of “half of my relatives” who were killed during Gukurahundi in the 1980s, including an uncle who was the family’s bread winner. She struggled to gain an education and now wants to assist survivors of the genocide.

“I grew up as a traumatised child,” she told NewsDay in 2018. “In 1984, I had the most traumatic experience of my life when two of my uncles were shot in my presence and in front of other school children during assembly at Silozwe Primary School.

“One of the uncles, Matshatha Tshuma, was a businessperson and my guardian, as well as the breadwinner of our family. His body lay where he had been shot for a long time, and we ended up burying him in a decomposed state.

“My other uncle, Mvulo Ndlovu, was reburied in July (2018) after some white people helped fund autopsies to help relatives identify the bones of their relatives that died during Gukurahundi. I was only seven-years-old when that shooting happened.”