War collaborators ordered to elect new committee

THE Zimbabwe National Liberation War Collaborators (Ziliwaco) has been given a 60-day ultimatum to hold an elective congress to put in place a new management committee following an application filed by its current secretary-general Jabulani Mbetu.

The order was made in default on June 5, 2019 by High Court judge Justice David Mangota during the presence of Mbetu as the war collaborators organisation did not attend the hearing.

Mbetu made a court application for a declaratur and an interdict against his association to effectively bar it from continuing to operate with an illegal management committee, which, in his founding affidavit, he said was "making decisions that are in essence null and void", adding that would place the entire organisation in serious
jeopardy.

"The respondent, functioning with an illegal management committee, will affect the functions of my office as general secretary. I stand vindicated by law which allows me to legally seek pronouncement of the respondent's illegal standing and leadership a nullity," he said, urging the court to rule in his favour.

Justice Mangota held that Mbetu had the right to an elective congress and ordered the war collaborators association to act as such.

"Whereupon after reading documents filed of record and hearing counsel, it is ordered that: The applicant (Mbetu) be and is hereby declared to have the right to an elective congress of the respondent (Ziliwaco) every five years to elect the respondent's management committee," Justice Mangota ruled.

"The respondent be and is hereby ordered to hold an elective congress within the next 60 days to elect a new management committee. Respondent is hereby ordered to pay costs on a legal practitioner-client scale."