PRESIDENT Mnangagwa is not liable to civil or criminal proceedings while he is still in office and the court challenge seeking to annul his ascendency to ZANU PF’s top post in November 2017 is flawed, the party’s Secretary for Administration, Dr Obert Mpofu, has said.
This comes as ZANU PF Harare province acting chairman, Cde
Goodwills Masimirembwa, has submitted that Sybeth Musengezi, who applied to the
High Court to challenge President Mnangagwa’s ascendency, is not a bona fide
member of the party.
Dr Mpofu made the assertions in his founding affidavit in a
notice of opposition filed at the High Court on Friday against Musengezi’s
application.
In his submissions, Dr Mpofu argued that the High Court has
no jurisdiction to try the President as Section 98 of the Constitution
guarantees the President immunity.
“The literal import of the Section is very clear. There’s
no need for any aids to interpretation of this Section. The import of Section
98 (1) is that whilst in office, the President of Zimbabwe is not liable to any
civil or criminal proceedings in any court for things done or omitted to be
done in his personal capacity whilst in office. The Section confers immunity to
prosecution to a sitting President.”
Dr Mpofu said Musengezi did not seek leave to sue the
President as is required by rule 12 (21) of the High Court.
He said the application was defective and cannot be allowed
to go ahead as it falls away on filing and should be struck off the roll with
costs.
Furthermore, Dr Mpofu said Musengezi had not exhausted
domestic remedies which are provided for in ZANU PF’s constitution before
bringing the application to court.
On October 20 this year, Musengezi, who described himself
as a ZANU PF youth member, approached the Bulawayo High Court seeking the
nullification of ZANU PF’s November 19, 2017 special session of the Central
Committee meeting which elected President Mnangagwa as the party’s First
Secretary and President.
According to the court application, Musengezi, through his
lawyer Nqobani Sithole, cited ZANU PF as the first respondent and President
Mnangagwa as the second respondent.
In his submissions, Cde Masimirembwa said Musengezi is not
in ZANU PF structures.
“I confirm that the Applicant is not a member of the 1st
Respondent in good standing. Firstly, he applied to be a member of the 1st
Respondent in 2014 in Hatcliffe yet he did not reside there and was using a
local address belonging to one Cde Mutimbanyoka’s mother. It must be noted that
for one to qualify as a member, they must belong to a cell within their area of
residence. The party contends that Applicant has ‘dirty hands’ in respect of
his claims to membership,” he said.
Cde Masimirembwa said investigations by the party had
discovered that Musengezi had been illegally planted into ZANU PF’s structures
by fugitive former national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere.
“It has currently been discovered that the Applicant is the
branch deputy secretary to which no elections were held for branch officials
other than the Chairman.
‘‘This means that anything else has not been verified and
its origins and authenticity questionable. It’s believed, on investigation by
the DCC security that reports to me as Chairman of DCC 4 Harare and also Acting
Chairman of the Harare Province, that Applicant was “planted “into the relevant
district, without the relevant credentials for political and other reasons by
the former Secretary for the Commissariat, Saviour Kasukuwere, to whom he is
allegedly related.”
According to Cde Masimirembwa, Musengezi belongs to another
political party known as Front for Economic Emancipation in Zimbabwe (FEEZ).
“In June of the same year, he was seen to be a member of
another political front by participating in their first press conference. He
uploaded a video on his Facebook page wearing FEEZ regalia and denounced and
disrespected the 1st Respondent and its First Secretary, the 2nd Respondent in
the matter. The video footages are attached . . .” he said. Sunday Mail
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