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The dismissal by the Constitutional Court of the attempt by two former Zanu-PF MPs to block by-elections to fill their vacant seats should help clarify just what sort of creature a political party is and how it can operate.The court is still to give its reasons, and we are all looking forward to hearing them. But it is already apparent that Mr Didymus Mutasa and Mr Temba Mliswa misunderstand the nature of a political party.

For a start, there is not much in our law about political parties. By our right of freedom of association anyone, or any group of people, can form a political party if they wish. The Political Parties Finance Act divides among the parties reaching a minimum threshold of seats whatever sum the Finance Minister has put in the Budget.

Those responsible for running elections are obliged to recognise any group calling itself a party, although there are rules about names and symbols that could be confused with existing parties. And finally, there is the constitutional provision that the two fell under, that anyone elected to Parliament with the backing of a political party ceases to be a Member of Parliament when the party tells the Speaker of the National Assembly or president of Senate that they are no longer a party member.

And that is just about all our law does to recognise parties. There are no legal requirements telling parties how they should be organised, how they should conduct their affairs, who they should admit, or anything else. In effect, they are private clubs able to admit who they like, expel who they like, nominate candidates for election in any way they wish, and generally run themselves as they see fit. It is much the same in almost all other multi-party democracies.

With the possible exception of Italy, where there are some legal rules, other parliaments and executives have been very wary about trying to legally manage parties.

No party is obliged to have membership lists, for example, let alone publish these.

Parties do not have to account for the money they receive from supporters or even from the State. Everyone hopes they spend it wisely on their administration but if they want to spend it on beer they can.

And, critically, while everyone has the right to form a party, no one has the right to insist on belonging to a particular party. Parties can reject any application for membership and do not even have to give a reason.

Obviously parties that aspire to winning large enough blocks of seats in Parliament or which aspire to elect the President need a reasonable number of members, at least enough to nominate as candidates, but some parties do not go much beyond this point, being just a group of aspiring MPs, while other parties seek a larger membership. But both are quite permissible and both types can produce winning teams.

Zanu-PF, being larger than any other party and desiring mass structures, has more internal rules than others.

But that is just because it wants to; it is under no legal obligation to have these.

The MDC formations tend to have looser structures and while seeking mass support, are less fussy about mass membership. But again this is all quite legal.
Mr Mutasa and Mr Mliswa obviously thought differently; but they were wrong.

Political parties are not organs of the State; they are private groups of like-minded people clubbing together to win elections so that they can make the changes they desire and can implement the programmes that their members would like to see.