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Chamisa in a fix over court ruling
10 May 2019 at 07:17hrs | Views
Lawyers for the opposition MDC spent the better part of yesterday studying High Court Judge Justice Edith Mushore's ruling nullifying Nelson Chamisa's leadership of the party in order to give advice on how the opposition could respond to it.
The judgement has drawn a lot of attention and raised many questions among members of the public.
The case was brought in September 2018 by a member of the MDC who was effectively challenging the legality of the leadership of current MDC President, Nelson Chamisa. In doing so, the applicant challenged the appointment in 2016 of Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri as additional deputies to the then leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
In her judgment, Justice Mushore ruled that those 2016 appointments were unlawful and secondly that the appointment of Chamisa was leader shortly after the death of Tsvangirai was also unlawful. The judge also ruled that all actions taken by Chamisa since he ascended to power in February 2018 are null and void. She also ordered that the party must hold an extraordinary congress.
Commenting on the judgement, Tsvangiai's former advisor, Alex. Magaisa, said, "The judgment is clearly a strike upon the legitimacy of Chamisa as leader of the opposition. Ironically this is the principal argument that Chamisa has advanced against his arch-rival Emmerson Mnangagwa, namely that his presidency of Zimbabwe lacks legitimacy. Politically, the judgment hurls the same weapon at Chamisa. It creates an equivalence between the two main political adversaries, each of whom will now wield the illegitimacy card against the other.
"However, while the immediate focus is on legitimacy, the effect on the impending MDC Congress and the impact on elected MPs and Councillors, the most fundamental effect is that the judgment represents an existential threat upon the country's main opposition, which has so far refused to budge to ruling party demands. It is a strategic and insidious assault on the very existence of the MDC led by Chamisa.
The judgement has drawn a lot of attention and raised many questions among members of the public.
The case was brought in September 2018 by a member of the MDC who was effectively challenging the legality of the leadership of current MDC President, Nelson Chamisa. In doing so, the applicant challenged the appointment in 2016 of Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri as additional deputies to the then leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
In her judgment, Justice Mushore ruled that those 2016 appointments were unlawful and secondly that the appointment of Chamisa was leader shortly after the death of Tsvangirai was also unlawful. The judge also ruled that all actions taken by Chamisa since he ascended to power in February 2018 are null and void. She also ordered that the party must hold an extraordinary congress.
Commenting on the judgement, Tsvangiai's former advisor, Alex. Magaisa, said, "The judgment is clearly a strike upon the legitimacy of Chamisa as leader of the opposition. Ironically this is the principal argument that Chamisa has advanced against his arch-rival Emmerson Mnangagwa, namely that his presidency of Zimbabwe lacks legitimacy. Politically, the judgment hurls the same weapon at Chamisa. It creates an equivalence between the two main political adversaries, each of whom will now wield the illegitimacy card against the other.
"However, while the immediate focus is on legitimacy, the effect on the impending MDC Congress and the impact on elected MPs and Councillors, the most fundamental effect is that the judgment represents an existential threat upon the country's main opposition, which has so far refused to budge to ruling party demands. It is a strategic and insidious assault on the very existence of the MDC led by Chamisa.
Source - Byo24News
