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Constitutional Court's elections ruling 'sound in law' says Madhuku
02 Jun 2013 at 06:19hrs | Views
Constitutional law expert Professor Lovemore Madhuku has said the ruling by the Constitutional Court to order elections to be held before July 31 was "sound in law".
On Friday, the Constitutional Court ruled that Zimbabwe should hold elections by July 31 after human rights activist Mr Jealousy Mawarire approached the court seeking to compel President Mugabe to proclaim a date for elections to be conducted by June 29.
He pointed out that the next step was for the President to respect the law by calling for elections within the prescribed timeframe.
"The judgment simply means one thing: the country needs to go to elections without fail. It is nonsensical for those who say what the court has done is out of its mandate, to utter such words because the court simply resolved the dispute over the election date," he said.
"The court is the only organ in our country with the power to resolve such disputes when it is approached. The MDC-T has a problem. They cannot practise what they preach. They should just respect the laws of the land. Their behaviour of slamming such judgments is uncalled for.
"It is an unfortunate statement. It is also worrying for such a statement to come from a senior member of Government. We will have very serious problems in future if Government officials do not respect court decisions."
On Friday, the Constitutional Court ruled that Zimbabwe should hold elections by July 31 after human rights activist Mr Jealousy Mawarire approached the court seeking to compel President Mugabe to proclaim a date for elections to be conducted by June 29.
He pointed out that the next step was for the President to respect the law by calling for elections within the prescribed timeframe.
"The judgment simply means one thing: the country needs to go to elections without fail. It is nonsensical for those who say what the court has done is out of its mandate, to utter such words because the court simply resolved the dispute over the election date," he said.
"The court is the only organ in our country with the power to resolve such disputes when it is approached. The MDC-T has a problem. They cannot practise what they preach. They should just respect the laws of the land. Their behaviour of slamming such judgments is uncalled for.
"It is an unfortunate statement. It is also worrying for such a statement to come from a senior member of Government. We will have very serious problems in future if Government officials do not respect court decisions."
Source - news
