Prof Ncube wins Court Case over Prof Mutambara

THE High Court of Bulawayo has confirmed an interim relief granted to Professor Welshman Ncube barring his rival Professor Arthur Oliver Guseni Mutambara from masquerading as the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The order which was read out by Justice Nicholas Mathonsi on behalf of his brother Judge – Lawrence Kamocha during a packed motion court today.

Said the learned judge:

"The Applicant is entitled to the final order," he said.

Effectively the judgement means that Prof Mutambara must stop acting up as president of the MDC and principal in the inclusive government.

He must also pay the cost of the suit of a high scale.

In the case MDC secretary general Ms Priscilla Musihayirambwi-Mushonga representing is the applicant whereas Prof Mutambara is the Respondent respectively.

Prof Mutambara had previously opposed the interim relief arguing through his lawyer Mr Aleck Muchadehama that the MDC filed defective court papers and that the Bulawayo High Court process should be stayed on the basis of a pending lawsuit in the High Court of Harare with the same facts at issue.

However, the MDC through its senior counsel Advocate Adrian De-Bourborne argued that whether or not papers are defective, it does not erode the merits of its case and besides the argument about filing proper papers was just a lame case of "sterile formalism."

The power wrangle between Prof Ncube and his east while friend Prof Mutambara started in January this year at the MDCD congress in Harare.

Prof Mutambara led a group of 13 rebels who argued that there was a breach of processes that led the subsequent election of Prof Ncube as the party president.

They thus contested the legitimacy of the party structure that emerged from congress deliberations and elections.