The Urgent Chamber Application by CCC and its interim
secretary general, Sengezo Tshabangu, to have the names of three MPs and 20
Councillors, who were recalled last November, removed from the ballot paper for
the by-elections to be held on 3 February 2024; has been set down for hearing
and determination by the High Court in Harare tomorrow, Wednesday, 17 January
2024 at 10:00 hrs.
The three MPs are Amos Chibaya [former MP for Mkoba North],
Gift Siziva [former MP, Pelandaba-Tshabalala] and Stephen Chagwiza [former MP,
Goromonzi South]. A prominent name among the 20 Councillors is former Harare
Mayor, Ian Makone, who was Ward 18 Councillor in the capital city.
According to the urgent chamber application, the 23
respondents illegally presented their nomination papers at the Nomination Court
for the 3 February 2024 by-elections, which sat on 18 December 2023, under the
same ticket of the very same political party that recalled them in the first
place.
The case of the respondents is manifestly weakened by the
fact that there is already a High Court judgment by Justice Never Katiyo which,
on the basis of similar facts, expunged the names of recalled MPs from the
ballot paper for the by-elections held on 9 December 2023.
It is precisely because of that judgment that other
recalled Chamisa party MPs and Councillors are contesting the 3 February 2024
by-elections as independent candidates.
The 23 chose to be stubborn. Well, you get stubborn and
find out.
Claims that the case set down for tomorrow cannot proceed
or is doomed because Justice Katiyo’s judgment was appealed in the Supreme
Court are hollow and futile, first because there is actually no valid appeal in
the Supreme Court. Second, the declaratory order granted by Justice Katiyo
affected the only the respondents in that particular case, as it was not of
general application.
It’s clear that the 23 respondents in the case set for
tomorrow stubbornly decided to contest under the ticket of the same party that
recalled them play politics, only as a vain political ploy to intimidate the
party that recalled them, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission [ZEC] and the
courts.
While they apparently succeeded to intimidate ZEC, they
clearly have not succeeded to do the same to the party that recalled them; and
there is no chance in heaven that they can intimidate the court.
False bravado does not work in legal matters.
Anyhow, things have come to a head, the matter will be
heard tomorrow, and it’s up to the court to decide.
Meanwhile, there is no prize for guessing that if the
respondents lose, and despite the fact that their case is hopeless ab initio,
they will nevertheless do their now predicable political dance with political
claims that the judiciary is captured blah blah blah.
That's the way things have become Prof Jonathan Moyo was
writing on X
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