Mugabe, Tsvangirai off the hook for now

The Supreme Court has refused to hear the application in which a Harare man, Mr Jealousy Mawarire, is seeking to compel President Mugabe to proclaim election dates by June 29 on the basis that the applicant adopted the wrong procedure in filing his application.

Instead of filing an urgent chamber application Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said Mr Mawarire filed an urgent court application.

The Chief Justice, in a letter to Mr Mawarire's lawyers, stressed the need by the applicant to justify why the court application should be heard on an urgent basis before the court deals with the merits of the case.

If Mr Mawarire insists on having the Supreme Court hear his matter on an urgent basis, the court advised him to first file an urgent chamber application to have the court application heard on an urgent basis before dealing with the actual case for proclamation of election dates.

The communication was made to Mr Mawarire's lawyers, Mandizha and Company, through a letter by the Chief Registrar Mr Walter Chikwana.

"The above matter was placed before the Honourable Chief Justice who commented as follows:

'What is before me is not an urgent chamber application but an urgent court application. If the applicant wishes to have this court application heard on an urgent basis, he needs to file an urgent chamber application for leave to have this court application heard on an urgent basis.

'Once the chamber application is determined in favour of the applicant, only then can the court application be set down on an urgent basis,'" read the letter.

The letter was copied to the four respondents cited in the application - President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and the Attorney General's Office.

Mr Mawarire wants the President to proclaim the election date by June 29 in line with the fast approaching expiration of Parliament.

Mr Mawarire, a member of the Centre for Election Democracy in Southern Africa, also wants the Supreme Court to declare that Parliament expires on June 29 this year.

In an application filed at the Constitutional Court on Thursday, Mr Mawarire cited President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and MDC leader Professor Welshman Ncube and the Attorney-General as respondents.

Mr Mawarire says he is a registered voter in Zaka East Constituency and that as a Zimbabwean citizen, he has a legal right to mount the application.

Mr Mawarire argues that the life of Parliament and local authority councillors expires on June 29 and that if elections are not held, Zimbabwe would be running under an illegality.

Mr Mawarire says the looming expiry of Parliament had triggered confusion and debate among representatives of political parties and the inclusive Government.

The MDC formations, Mr Mawarire says, were pushing for the extension of the lifespan when there is no such provision in the Constitution.

If the election date is not fixed in line with the looming expiry of the terms, Mr Mawarire says, Zimbabwe would be plunged into a situation where it would be run illegally.