The MDC-T faction led by Mr Nelson Chamisa undermined the
integrity of the courts and should be charged for contempt for ascribing wrong
motives to a judge who presided over a case in which Mr Chamisa sought to stop
his rival Dr Thokozani Khupe from using the party’s name and logo, legal
experts said yesterday.
The Chamisa faction had approached the High Court seeking
to interdict Dr Khupe from using the party’s symbols.
Bulawayo High Court
judge Justice Francis Bere dismissed the urgent application for lack of merit
and ruled that Mr Chamisa was a factional leader.
In a scathing attack on the court, Mr Chamisa’s national
executive yesterday accused the judge of siding with a rival group.
“The national executive took note of the decision of the
High Court. It noted with concern the creeping of politics into law and
remained concerned that a whole respectable court can choose to relate itself
to the issue of the so-called factions which was not even before it,” read part
of the MDC-T statement.
“What was before the courts, the executive noted, was the
issue of expelled party members who were abusing the party’s name, trademark,
logo and symbols.”
Legal experts said the Chamisa-led MDC-T was offside. Professor
Lovemore Madhuku, who argued the matter for Dr Khupe, said it was regrettable
the party’s national executive chose to be contemptuous of the courts when it
had approached the court in the first place.
“It is unfair to attribute improper motives to a judge who
clearly applied an impartial mind to the matter before him,” said Prof Madhuku.
“A litigant who initiates legal proceedings cannot, after
losing, choose to undermine the dignity of our courts.”
Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) president Mr Misheck Hogwe
said it was expected that the judges should be free to adjudicate over matters
without fearing they would be accused of meddling in politics.
“The matter before the court was by any definition a political
dispute,” he said.
“If the political parties believed that the court had
jurisdiction to entertain the matter they ought to respect the ruling of the
court. This is not to say the losing party necessarily has to agree with the
ruling. Litigants should resist the temptation to be bad losers so that the
integrity of our courts is maintained.”
Another legal expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said the remarks by Mr Chamisa’s national executive were offside because it was
his faction that approached the courts.
“It must be appreciated that the court ruled on a very
simple matter, that the application was not urgent,” he said.
“It did not go into the merits of the matter, so the
politics alluded to are a mere smokescreen to cover up for the fact that
Chamisa miscalculated in bringing a misguided application to the High Court.”
The lawyer said Chamisa should simply agree with Dr Khupe
to call for a special congress. “It is the failed politicians and pseudo
lawyers surrounding Chamisa that are leading him astray.”
Mr Obert Gutu, deputy president of the MDC-T led by Dr
Khupe, said the Chamisa faction’s statement was tantamount to contempt of
court.
He said Justice Bere was an experienced and distinguished
jurist of impeccable integrity.
“It is very unfortunate for some misguided and unscrupulous
people to seek to malign and denigrate the integrity of the learned judge,”
said Mr Gutu.
He said an attack on the independence of the judiciary went
to the root of national stability and constitutional democracy.
Mr Chamisa’s faction
wanted the High Court to stop former deputy president Dr Khupe from using the
name MDC-T and its party logo.
This was after Mr Chamisa and Dr Khupe parted ways
following the death of party leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai in February this year.
Mr Chamisa immediately seized power, a position challenged
by Dr Khupe as unconstitutional.
Dr Khupe argues it
is only congress that nominates the leadership of the MDC-T, not the national
council as was the case with Mr Chamisa.
Dr Khupe insists she is the bona fide MDC-T leader because
she was the only one elected party vice president at congress, while the other
two — Mr Chamisa and Engineer Elias Mudzuri — were hand-picked by Mr
Tsvangirai.
Her grouping held a
congress last weekend and she was elected MDC-T leader. Herald
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