Chamisa's team fails to pitch up for appeal hearing

THE Supreme Court has slapped the MDC Alliance with costs after it failed to pitch up for the hearing of an appeal the party had made against a High Court ruling which declared that it does not legally exist.

The MDC Alliance had appealed to the Supreme Court following Justice Tawanda Chitapi's decision that it was not a legal persona with the capacity to sue and be sued and had no legal right to bring the application before the court.

This was after MDC Alliance had approached the High Court challenging the recall of some of its legislators and sought a ban on the Thokozani Khupeled MDC.

MDC lawyer Lovemore Madhuku argued that the MDC Alliance's application could not stand at law because it was defective in many respects.

"When the time came for the matter to be heard, the lawyers of the MDC Alliance were not here and I had to plead to allow the matter to be stood down. Fadzai Mahere (a lawyer and also MDC Alliance spokesperson) was here and had agreed to call her other members to come, but they were still not there," Madhuku said.

"Their appeal was actually defective; the papers filed before the Supreme Court did not qualify as a notice in a number of respects, particularly that they were failing to understand what Chitapi had ordered and so what they were asking the Supreme Court to put in place of Chitapi's order was not competent at law."

The Supreme Court bench was made up of Justices Elizabeth Gwaunza, Susan Mavhangira and Samuel Kudya.

"As a result they struck off the appeal with costs. It simply means they have not appealed against Chitapi's order. So, if they want to appeal they should go and seek condonation and extension of time within which to appeal," added Madhuku.

In his judgment, Chitapi said evidence showed that the MDC Alliance was a grouping of political parties that formed a pact to participate in the 2018 elections as a single entity.

He said the pact, however, had a timeframe and would expire after five years from the date of being elected into office, but did not have a constitution guiding its existence. The judge dismissed the matter based on that point alone, after Madhuku raised at least nine points, which he said resolved the whole application.

Among some of the points that had been raised by Madhuku included the fact that the MDC Alliance was not a legal persona and that Chalton Hwende, who is the MDC Alliance's secretary general, had no authority to represent the party or the MPs and that there was material non-disclosure of some information with a bid to mislead the court.