I have had the opportunity to read the High Court judgement barring the 12 CCC Bulawayo candidates from contesting the 23 August 2023. I am not a lawyer but one does not have to be a lawyer to see the judgement was absurd, so absurd not even a kangaroo court would come up with such foolish judgement.
If at all possible, everyone must try to read the judgement for yourself. It really is a must read! You will know why Zimbabwe is a failed state, with this corrupt and utterly useless public institutions it is no surprise we are a failed state!
Here are some the extracts from the 24 page judgement.
“The applicants are moving me to grant them a declarator and consequential relief, ” reads the High Court judgement, dated 27 July 2023
“The premise of this application on the provisions of the Electoral Act Chapter 2:13 (the ACT). Their bone of contention is that the commission which sat as the nomination court at the Bulawayo Magistrates Court, Tredgold Building on 21 June 2023 violated the law, in particular, s 46/ 7 & 8 of the Act when it accepted (my emphasis) the Respondents’ (12 CCC candidates) nomination papers for elections to members of the National House of Assembly of Zimbabwe in the the election which are to be held on 23 August 2023 after 16.00 hour and proceeded to sit to the early hours of 22 June 2023.”
It should be noted from the onset that the law accepts the principle that all those already in the queue at the designated closing time, will have their nomination papers processed. This is nothing new, the same principle is applies on voting day. And so we can zoom in to establish who was in the queue before the cut off hour of 16.00.
The Magistrate or a Judge presides over the nomination court but the person responsible for processing the nomination papers, the payment of the nomination fees, etc. and, for our purpose, the flow of the candidates submitting their nomination papers is the ZEC official, the 1st Respondent, in this case.
“The 1 st Respondent stated that he did not receive any nomination papers other than in terms of the law i.e. between 10 am and 4pm on nomination day and did not adjourn the nomination court beyond the prescribed nomination day,” state the HC judgement.
“The nomination courtroom was very small and could accommodate between 12 and 15 people at a time. The balance could queue outside and wait for their turn. At 15.55 hours he instructed a Police Officer deployed at the Nomination court to collect nomination papers from any person with nomination papers outside and bring them to him.
“The Police Officer complied and collected between 40 and 50 nomination papers and handed them over to him.
“ At 4 pm he declared the Court closed.
“Annex B is a register that records the times when the nomination forms were captured in the system by the Secretary and not the time when they were submitted by the candidates.
“The affidavits of the staffers are broadly in support of the averments of the 1 st Respondent.”
Case closed, you would think. The surprise was the judge’s contemptuous disregard of the facts!
“ I have accepted the facts as pleaded by the 1st respondent,” acknowledged the judgement before the volte-face.
“The 1 st Respondent stated in his affidavit that he only interacted with the individual Respondents when they submitted their nomination papers. Annex B shows when each Respondent submitted his or her nomination papers. Annex B is a document compiled by public officials during the course of their duty in service of the stateLong after 4 pm the majority of the Respondents filed their nomination papers.
“The 1st Respondent and his staffers have said the times indicated in Annex B are not what they purport to be. I find this explanation to be strange and improbable to the extend of being false.”
“Annex B speaks for itself.It does not need to be explained away by anyone including the 1 st Respondent and his staffer. In all probability, the 1 st Respondent comes up with this explanation upon realising that this application has put him and ZEC on trial.”
The 1 st Respondent has said he collected all the nomination papers of all those in the courtroom and in the queue outside at 15.55 hours - this marks the time the last nomination papers were ACCEPTED. Annex B gives the time when each nomination paper was entered and captured in the system. Why the judge is insisting on the Annex B time must be the time the nomination papers were accepted does not make any sense if the principle that all those already in the queue at 16.00 hours can be processed.
Please note Annex B was NOT included in the judgement I have seen. If it was, one could compare how many nomination papers were processed after 16.00 hours and compare that with the 40 or 50 the 1 st respondent said he collected at 15.55 hours.
“From the evidence available which is the 1st Respondent’s affidavit where he says that he only interacted with the Respondents when they submitted their papers, Annexe B, the allegations, and denials all taken together I come to the conclusion that the Respondents except one, submitted their nomination papers in violation of the law,” continued the judgement.
“The Nomination Court closed at 4 pm. Once closed it was no longer sitting in open court and by the time the respondents sat before him they were not doing so in open court. The separation of the papers from the Respondents through the medium of the Police Officer was unlawful.
“The statute says the candidate or his/her agent must be in court and ready to submit at 4 pm. It does not say that the candidate’s papers alone must be in the courtroom.”
What was wrong with 1st Respondent collecting all the nomination of those in the queue just before 4 pm?
The courtroom could only hold 12 or 15 candidates and so to insist that only those “in court and ready to submit at 4 pm” could be processed is just being pedantic and foolish.
The CCC contestants have appealed the shamelessly partisan High Court, it is hard to image any judge giving such a judgement if the candidate were Zanu PF. After all it was the same judiciary that said the 2017 military coup was “justifies, legal and constitutional!”
Read the judgement if you can and you will know why it is hopeless to ever think Zimbabwe can ever become a healthy and functioning democratic nation without first implementing the democratic reforms and overhauling all state institutions. Why MDC leaders failed to implement even one token reform when they had the golden opportunity to do so beggars belief!
HC barring 12 CCC contesting 2023 rat race is typical judgement of a kangaroo court in a Banana Republic.
ReplyDeleteWorse still, the continued participation of MDC/CCC in these flawed elections is giving the Kangaroo Courts and the Banana Republic some modicum of credibility and legitimacy.
No Zimbabwean in his or her right mind should participate in these flawed elections and thus give legitimacy to the Kangaroo Courts, the Banana Republic, the sell out opposition and thus perpetuating the the failed state!
In our naivety we have become our own worst enemy and after 43 years of rigged elections, this must stop.
https://www.zimeye.net/2023/07/29/hc-barring-12-ccc-contesting-2023-is-foolish-and-symptomatic-of-judiciary-rot/
@ Wezhira Munya
ReplyDelete“[See picture of the badly injured head of CCC member, Mr. Gwaradzimba, after Zanu PF attacked him today.]
But Chamisa said he has plugged all Zanu PF vote rigging and wanton violence loopholes. So he was lying! Could it be that he was lying about CCC winning big too? Zimbabwe cannot afford to participate in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy, help Chamisa et al get their few gravy train seats reward and perpetuate the failed state.
We need to end the failed state and we will never ever do that by being conned into believing the opposition can win rigged elections even after 43 years of the Zanu PF mafiosi rigging elections. We must demand the implementation of reforms and thus guarantee free, fair and credible elections.
How long will it take us before the penny finally drop that trading free elections for winning rigged elections was trading gold for fool’s gold! Fcuk me!
After 43 years of rigged elections we cannot ignore the political reality that the opposition had the golden chance to end the dictatorship during the GNU and they wasted it. Worse still, that it is the opposition who are insisting in participating in these flawed elections giving Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuating the dictatorship because they are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is offering as bait. The opposition leaders themselves know this.
ReplyDelete“The (2013) electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility,” confessed David Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.
The sell out opposition have become the greatest obstacle to democratic change in Zimbabwe, far greater than Zanu PF itself, because CCC are the enemy within running with the povo hare and hunting with the Zanu PF hounds. CCC are the ones conning the people into participating in these flawed elections insisting the party has devised winning in rigged election strategies when they know it is all hot air.
The elephant in the room is the sell out CCC, those who think Zimbabwe can change without implementing reforms are foolish. And we need to admit it that CCC has given up on implementing reforms, they failed to implement even one when they had the golden opportunity to do so during the GNU it is foolish to think they will do so now!
@ Chamisa
ReplyDelete“ED is just about to plunge Zimbabwe into an unprecedented electoral and national crisis. Never target a tribe or victimise a region twice!”
Are you suggesting it is ok to target a tribe or anyone ONCE?
Lest we be mislead by this corrupt and incompetent political upstart, this HC ruling barring the 12 CCC contesting this 2023 rat race in NOT the second disastrous crisis Zanu PF has committed. Remember the 2008 electoral coup which Mnangagwa himself led, the 2017 military coup, the rigged elections to say nothing about the social and economic crisis Zanu PF had dragged this nation through!
We must remember that Zimbabwe would be a healthy and functioning democracy by now if Chamisa and company had implemented the democratic reforms necessary to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. We should not be participating in these flawed elections who primary purpose is to give Zanu PF legitimacy if CCC had listened to advice from SADC, EU and everybody with some common sense that we must implement reforms before elections.
Of course, we should be outrage by the foolish HC judgement in Bulawayo barring the 12 CCC candidates contesting in this rat race. We are outraged not because it is happening in Bulawayo but because it is wrong, period!
@ Ngqabutho Mabhena
ReplyDelete“CCC appeals don't raise ethnic card.”
I totally agree with you there.
@ ED
ReplyDelete“Mukori go straight to chamisa your Idea is right but wrong platform.”
SADC leaders begged MDC leaders to implement the reforms during the GNU and they were ignored. The EU and others have too advised MDC/CCC on the folly of participating in flawed election and they too have been ignored.
Indeed, CCC leaders themselves have admitted it is foolish participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. They have ignored their own internal voices because of greed.
It is naive to pretend Chamisa et al are participating in these flawed election because they do not know Zanu PF is rigging the elections! So why would I want to waste my time talking to Chamisa?
What I should be doing is talking to the ordinary Zimbabweans who need to open their eyes and minds so they stop being led by the nose like a bull at the market!
EXILED former cabinet minister Saviour Kasukuwere has said the fight is not over after the Supreme Court threw out his appeal challenging the High Court's decision to remove him from the ballot.
ReplyDeleteThe Supreme Court Friday concurred with the High Court ruling that his appeal lacked merit but did not give full reasons for the judgment.
On Thursday a three-panel bench comprising Justices Antonia Guvava, Chinembiri Bhunu and Felistus Chatukuta heard arguments from both parties before reserving the ruling.
"As a nation, we are on the eve of a constitutional and electoral crisis", said Method Ndlovu, his lawyer soon after the ruling.
"Because we have the apex court which is the constitutional court and we have received instructions from our client to take up the next available step in order to make sure that he remains on the ballot paper.
"So I wouldn't say we are out of time in order to protect the best interests of our client. We didn't sleep. We have papers in our bags and they will be filed," he said.
Kasukuwere's spokesperson Jacqueline Sande concurred saying it was disappointing that the judges did not give reasons for their ruling.
The SC judges were not going to say if the HC judge was compromised and so are we. there are some matter best left unspoken.
So passenger 34 has appealed to the CC. Is he really that dumb not to know that there will be no uncompromised judges there too! All the magistrates, judges and other senior judiciary services staff received the US$ 400 000 or so housing “loan” which they never asked for and are not expected to repay.
Like its or not Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic complete with kangaroo courts and corrupt and utterly useless opposition! Passenger 34 is just a former Zanu PF thug trying to stage a comeback!
"There is no such thing as running out of time when you are fighting for justice and fighting for democracy. It is President Saviour Kasukuwere's constitutional right to stand as a presidential candidate as well as the right of citizens of the multitude of Zimbabweans who also want to vote for him," said Kasukuwere's spokesperson Jacqueline Sande.
Kasukuwere fighting for justice and democracy, yeah right! Since when has he started caring about justice and democracy.
What goes round comes round! The Zanu PF murderous thug is now tasting some of the medicine he dished out so generously to others!
ReplyDeleteThe regime is now on his case and passenger 34 now knows that if he should ever fly into Zimbabwe he will not spend the night in his bullet proof mansion but would be enjoy State hospitality at Chikurumbi Prison.
Breaking news:- It has been noted, that all Zanu pf parliamentary candidates in Mashonaland West filed their nomination papers after 1600hrs. Therefore, the high court judgement in Bulawayo will be used as precedence.
ReplyDeleteThe country is failed state, its economy is in ruins, and here we are; the nation will be going to the poll in less than a month and we have been talking about failure to produce a verified voters’ roll, rural voters being frogmarched to vote come the election, the chaotic nomination process, etc., etc. But have yet to talk about how to revive the collapsed economy.
Of course, the failure to produce a verified voters’ roll, etc. are all very important and it is right we are talking about these things. The important point here is that all these issues would and should have been put to bed a long time ago if we had implemented the reforms. They are still important today only because we have failed to deal with them. We are still failing to deal with them, participating in flawed elections is just kicking the failure to produce a verified voters’ roll, etc., the proverbial tin can, down the road.
Our punishment for kicking the tin can down the road is we are stuck with the failed state, the economic meltdown and the tragic human suffering that comes with being a failed state! And we are not getting out of this mess until we learn.
@ Chris
ReplyDelete“You are way lost. You not reading the political temperatures well. You are stuck in a time "warp". Reforms Reforms Reforms, things are straightening themselves in front of your eyes????????????”
What is “straightening themselves out”? From what to what?
Zanu PF is rigging these elections and come 24 August you will be complaining of Zanu PF rigging - the very thing you have stubbornly either denied or claimed to have winning in rigged election strategies.
The country is sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss and you continue to bury your head in the sand and insist in seeing what you wish to see instead of the reality just because it is not what we want to see.
The supreme Court will NOT endorse the Bulawayo High Court's decision to bar the 12 CCC candidates from participating in the 23 August 2023 elections because the decision was foolish, period.
ReplyDeleteIf the SC make the stupid of letting the HC decision stand then the immediate consequence is that all the contestants in this rate race who nomination was not captured onto the system at 16.00 on the dot are NOT legitimate contestants. All the losing candidate will be looking into this as soon as they know they have lost.
What is of greatest concern here is that the nation have spend the last year talking about the need for verified voters, need for reforms and all the other teething political problem which renders this process not free, fair and credible when we should have been dealing with what should be done to kick start the comatose economy. Worst of all, we have not resolved the political problem but only kicked them in touch.
How long are we going to allow this insanity to continue?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRArPAMYspU
What reason can CCC give for boycotting the elections, everything that is happening now has happened in previous elections and they did not boycott. So why now?
ReplyDelete@ Godfrey
ReplyDelete“True
This is a direct kick in the teeth similar to the old herd boys’ fight stir up … ‘iri raMai vako iri raMai vako’ - ED has taken the first move and the world is waiting with bated breath for NC action in response to what would be a head start for ED.”
The SC will reverse the HC ruling in this case, the decision is just too dumb for words. Mnangagwa is is stupid but he is that stupid to shoot himself in the foot when he is rigging and winning these elections.
Still the HC judgement is important for Zanu PF because it has kept CCC and the nation occupied with trivial issues instead of talking about how to revive the economy, to end corruption, to restore rule of law and all those issues that real matter.
When the SC reverse the HC judgement Chamisa and company will be over the moon boasting that this is proof CCC has plugged all Zanu PF’s vote rigging and wanton violence and proof the party is going to win big! The fork in the eye will come on 24 August 2023! If Chamisa challenge the result then the Constitutional Court will rule in Zanu PF’s favour and Chamisa will be seen as a sore loser if he criticises the same court he was praising only weeks earlier.
Chamisa knows that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and his part is to get in the boxing ring, strut around do the double shuffle Muhammad Ali style and whip up the wildebeest crowd into a frenzy, make them believe they can win rigged elections. Present the “Egyptian Mummy” with his jew and challenge him to throw his best punch. When the iron fist in a velvet glove lands everyone will know the fight is over!
Chamisa will get his running up prize, Leader of the Opposition (he rejected it last time but has already made it clear he will accept it) complete with the the perks of a seat in parliament, ministerial limo, housing “loan”, etc., etc.
The real losers in this idiotic charade are the wildebeest herd and the public, they participated and so, per se, gave Zanu PF legitimacy. They were warned voter beware but chose to listen to the crows instead. Another five years of this failed state —- S****T!
@ Evangelist
ReplyDeleteWhat matters here is that Zimbabwe had its get out of jail card during the GNU and MDC failed to use it and worse still they are now participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. SADC in 2013 and now EU all begged MDC/CCC to get the reforms implemented BEFORE elections and the advice has fallen on deaf ears.
To keep pretending CCC are doing the nation a favour by participating in the flawed elections is the most idiotic position anyone can take.
Chamisa knows that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and his part is to get in the boxing ring, strut around do the double shuffle Muhammad Ali style and whip up the wildebeest crowd into a frenzy, make them believe they can win rigged elections. Present the “Egyptian Mummy” with his jew and challenge him to throw his best punch. When the iron fist in a velvet glove lands everyone will know the fight is over!
Chamisa will get his running up prize, Leader of the Opposition (he rejected it last time but has already made it clear he will accept it) complete with the the perks of a seat in parliament, ministerial limo, housing “loan”, etc., etc.
The real losers in this idiotic charade are the wildebeest herd and the public, they participated and so, per se, gave Zanu PF legitimacy. They were warned voter beware but chose to listen to the crows, “makunguvo” and the howling monkeys. Another five years of this failed state —- S****T!
@ George
ReplyDeleteThe tragedy here is the failure to realise that Zimbabweans have failed to remove Zanu PF in the past because the party rigged elections. Even after 43 years of Zanu PF mafiosi rigging elections, it is insane that the penny has not dropped in these empty heads.
To end this Zanu PF dictatorship, they have been warned that they must implement reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. SADC warned them throughout the 2008 to 2013 GNU and more recently the EU have done the same. The later has even produced the 23 reform recommendations, not even one reform has been implemented. The naive and gullible povo have chosen to believe Chamisa’s claim that he has devised winning in rigged elections strategies. All hot air as the results will show on 24 August.
The young lady is talking of going to SA to be a “house girl”, she will not the the only one, hundreds of thousands will do the same. Many South African are now of the view that Zimbabweans are not doing enough to remove the failed Zanu PF dictatorship. There will be no welcoming committee for her and for Zimbabweans in SA.
Another five more years of this Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical rule awaits - the price the nation is paying for not listening to sound advice from SADC and EU and instead listen to the crows, “makunguvo”, winning in rigged elections bull!
Those who will not learn from the past mistakes are doomed to repeat the mistakes and pay dearly with which pass. After 43 years of rigged elections we still refuse to implement reforms and end this curse! Of course, we will not get out of this mess until we learn, there is no escaping that!