CHIEF’S Council president Fortune Charumbira has dug in and
refused to comply with a recent High Court order compelling him to publicly
apologise for urging traditional leaders to support the ruling Zanu PF party.
Charumbira has, instead petitioned the High Court, seeking
rescission of the judgment, which he claimed was erroneously arrived at.
He claimed that when he made the alleged offensive remarks
he was not speaking in his personal capacity, but simply expressing the
position taken by all the country’s chiefs.
“It is evident from the statement that the remarks which I
am alleged to have made are a statement of the position of chiefs. I was,
therefore, simply enunciating, according to the statement, the position which
had been adopted by chiefs. There is, therefore, no basis for me to be sued in
my personal capacity at all,” Charumbira said in his founding affidavit.
Last month, High Court judge Justice Clement Phiri ordered
Charumbira to publicly retract his statements that traditional leaders would
support Zanu PF in the upcoming elections. The order followed an application by
a civic organisation, the Election Resource Centre (ERC).
The judge also ordered Local Government minister July Moyo
to take disciplinary action against Charumbira. The case was heard unopposed,
leading to the granting of a default judgment.
But in his application filed on Tuesday, Charumbira
maintained his innocence, saying the reason why a default judgment had been
entered against him was because he was outside the country on official business
when the court papers were served at the Parliament building.
“I humbly request the honourable court to accept my
explanation in respect of the reasons for the default. I ask that the default
judgment be condoned and the applicant be granted leave to file opposing papers
in this matter which has very far reaching consequences on the position of the
applicant,” Charumbira said.
“I have been cited as the first respondent in the principal
proceedings. As already indicated above, one of the capacities in which I am
cited is in my personal capacity. In my personal capacity, I have committed no
infraction of the law whatsoever. The application against me in my personal
capacity is therefore completely misplaced.
“The averments which I am alleged to have uttered were not
made by me in my personal capacity . . . at no point in the statement which is
quoted did I purport to act in my individual capacity … it is evident from the
statement that the remarks which I am alleged to have made are a statement of
the position of chiefs.”
Charumbira was last week given a seven-day ultimatum within
which to issue the apology, which according to the service of court papers
expired on June 14, 2018.
In his affidavit, ERC chairperson, Trust Maanda had
described Charumbira’s statements as unlawful and unconstitutional.
Maanda said Charumbira repeated the October 2017 utterances
in January this year, saying since former President Robert Mugabe had been
deposed and President Emmerson Mnangagwa having taken over, on January 14,
2018, he was urging all the chiefs to rally behind the ruling party.
“I never made any remarks in respect of the people of
Charumbira chieftainship that they should support any particular political
party or should vote for any particular candidate. If I had done so, perhaps,
the applicant would have had some basis for complaint,” Charumbira insisted.
The matter is yet to be set down for hearing. Newsday
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