Chief Fortune Charumbira who faces sexual assault allegations by his niece has been removed as president of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) with elections for his replacement slated for October.
Charumbira, who has a seat in Zimbabwe’s Senate courtesy of a quota reserved for traditional leaders, became PAP president in June last year.
The dissolution of Zimbabwe’s parliament on August 23 to pave way for elections effectively meant Charumbira was also no longer a PAP MP where one’s term runs concurrently with parliamentary term in their home country.
A meeting of the PAP in Johannesburg on Friday, chaired by acting president Ashebir Gayo resolved that a vote would take place between October 16 and 18 to elect a new president, first vice president and fourth vice president – all positions which are vacant.
The vote will take place during a sitting of the PAP’s Third Ordinary Session of the Sixth Parliament, said Miles Sampa, the chairman of the Committee on Audit and Public Accounts in a letter to the Clerk of Parliament Lindiwe Khumalo.
Chief Charumbira’s married 27-year-old niece filed a police report in April this year accusing him of raping her, but he has not been arrested amid claims that he is being shielded by President Emmerson Mnangagwa who needed him to rally his community behind his re-election campaign.
Charumbira’s accuser, who is a school teacher, said the traditional leader invited her to his vehicle and began caressing her breasts and kissing her without her consent. He also put his hand under her dress.
The woman recorded Charumbira telling her: “I see more value and benefit in you and I being linked somehow, being friends, being very close friends, private, very close friends.
“When the need arises, we just get that close, that even intimacy, when there is need and it is convenient for both of us. I see more benefits in that than anything which is not beneficial.”
Charumbira has also faced allegations of embezzling PAP funds, which he denies.
He was recently replaced as president of the Chiefs Council, which is now headed by Chief Mtshana Khumalo of Bubi, Matabeleland North.
Source: Bulawayo24
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