News / National
MDC-T launches litigation crusade, says State media
12 Jun 2013 at 12:21hrs | Views
The State aligned media alleges that the MDC-T has teamed up with donor-funded lawyer organisations and law firms to draw up a "Strategic Election Litigation" plan with a view to subverting the landmark ruling.
Fifteen lawyers drawn from MDC-T, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights; Scanlen and Holderness; Dube, Manikai and Hwacha Legal Practitioners; Mbidzo, Muchadehama and Makoni Legal Practitioners and Atherstone and Cook; and the Prime Minister' Office met in the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Boardroom on Monday last week to brainstorm on the litigation plan.
Several strategies were discussed and adopted, among them finding legal excuses to file frivolous and vexatious applications on political grounds to orchestrate an attack, not only on the Judiciary, but on the Constitutional Court judgment in a bid to either block its implementation or force President Mugabe to disregard it, delay the announcement of an election date and get Sadc to question the ruling.
Among the cases the team agreed to bankroll using donor funds are the two applications that were choreographed in some sections of the private media yesterday.
The first case, as reported in NewsDay, involves a Bulawayo woman, one Maria Phiri who filed a Supreme Court application seeking to overturn the Constitutional Court ruling arguing that proclamation of a nomination date and polling date must allow for a 30-day intensive voter registration up to July 10.
The second case, as reported by the Daily News, involved an unnamed Harare man represented by Dube, Manikai and Hwacha Legal Practitioners; who claimed that "his rights would be violated if elections are held before July 31."
The minutes of the meeting show that the Bulawayo woman's court challenge was proposed by MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora who came up with the idea of finding a litigant who was considered an alien under the old Constitution and has 30 days to register who would argue that former aliens were required to acquire identity cards first and therefore cannot be able to immediately benefit from the 30-day voter registration exercise which enters its 21st day today.
The panel adopted Mr Mwonzora's proposal, culminating in Maria Phiri's Supreme Court application last Friday.
The Registrar-General's Office has, however, ensured one-stop facilities where identity cards are issued and registration done immediately.
Mr Chris Mhike of Atherstone and Cook; who chaired the meeting, proposed the idea of a litigant who would allege that his/her rights to register as a voter were violated by ZEC, and elections by July 31 would disenfranchise him/her.
This culminated in the application by the nameless, faceless Harare man reported in the Daily News yesterday.
The litigants are to be drawn from quasi political groupings linked to MDC-T like the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.
However, a lawyer with one of the law firms involved, who spoke on condition of anonymity for professional reasons, expressed surprise at the litigation plan saying the chances of success were between zero and zilch.
"It is clear from a simple reading of the litigation filed so far that the cases have between little and no legal merit.
"They appear to be designed to overwhelm, undermine and discredit the Constitutional Court in the hope of diluting the import of its judgment in order to block the holding of elections by July 31.
"While the Constitutional Court has a duty to accept the litigation, the cases filed so far have no chance in heaven of forcing the Court to reverse its judgment.
"That is legally impossible. The best way of changing or reversing that judgment is by getting Parliament to amend the Constitution or to make a new law and you have a better chance of flying to Mars tomorrow and coming back the same day than having either the Constitutional Court reversing the judgment or having Parliament amend the Constitution or enact a new law to reverse the judgment," she said.
The crushing Constitutional Court judgement, that had seven judges agreeing to two dissenting - the lawyer said - was solid and would survive generations and will be used as case law in many jurisdictions around the world.
"The bottom line is they are using donor money, if it was their money, they wouldn't proceed with this because the likely verdict is dismissal with costs," the lawyer said.
The Strategic Litigation Document, which is a clear attack on the bench, names specific judges that the group said were cause for concern to the success of their grand plan.
The meeting was attended by Mr Chris Mhike (Atherstone and Cook) who chaired; the MDC-T trio of Eric Matinenga, Tendai Biti and Douglas Mwonzora; Ms Rose Zigomo (Prime Minister's Office); Selby Hwacha (Dube, Manikai and Hwacha Legal Practitioners), Alex Magaisa (Prime Minister's Office), Advocate Lewis Uriri (Advocate Chambers), Alec Muchadehama (Mbidzo, Muchadehama and Makoni Legal Practitioners), George Gapu (Scanlen and Holderness), Arnold Tsunga (Africa Regional Programme of the International Commission of Jurists), Dzimbahwe Chimbga (ZLHR), Rose Hanzi (ZLHR), Jeremiah Bamu (ZLHR) and Tawanda Zhuwarara (ZLHR).
Fifteen lawyers drawn from MDC-T, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights; Scanlen and Holderness; Dube, Manikai and Hwacha Legal Practitioners; Mbidzo, Muchadehama and Makoni Legal Practitioners and Atherstone and Cook; and the Prime Minister' Office met in the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Boardroom on Monday last week to brainstorm on the litigation plan.
Several strategies were discussed and adopted, among them finding legal excuses to file frivolous and vexatious applications on political grounds to orchestrate an attack, not only on the Judiciary, but on the Constitutional Court judgment in a bid to either block its implementation or force President Mugabe to disregard it, delay the announcement of an election date and get Sadc to question the ruling.
Among the cases the team agreed to bankroll using donor funds are the two applications that were choreographed in some sections of the private media yesterday.
The first case, as reported in NewsDay, involves a Bulawayo woman, one Maria Phiri who filed a Supreme Court application seeking to overturn the Constitutional Court ruling arguing that proclamation of a nomination date and polling date must allow for a 30-day intensive voter registration up to July 10.
The second case, as reported by the Daily News, involved an unnamed Harare man represented by Dube, Manikai and Hwacha Legal Practitioners; who claimed that "his rights would be violated if elections are held before July 31."
The minutes of the meeting show that the Bulawayo woman's court challenge was proposed by MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora who came up with the idea of finding a litigant who was considered an alien under the old Constitution and has 30 days to register who would argue that former aliens were required to acquire identity cards first and therefore cannot be able to immediately benefit from the 30-day voter registration exercise which enters its 21st day today.
The panel adopted Mr Mwonzora's proposal, culminating in Maria Phiri's Supreme Court application last Friday.
The Registrar-General's Office has, however, ensured one-stop facilities where identity cards are issued and registration done immediately.
Mr Chris Mhike of Atherstone and Cook; who chaired the meeting, proposed the idea of a litigant who would allege that his/her rights to register as a voter were violated by ZEC, and elections by July 31 would disenfranchise him/her.
This culminated in the application by the nameless, faceless Harare man reported in the Daily News yesterday.
The litigants are to be drawn from quasi political groupings linked to MDC-T like the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.
However, a lawyer with one of the law firms involved, who spoke on condition of anonymity for professional reasons, expressed surprise at the litigation plan saying the chances of success were between zero and zilch.
"It is clear from a simple reading of the litigation filed so far that the cases have between little and no legal merit.
"They appear to be designed to overwhelm, undermine and discredit the Constitutional Court in the hope of diluting the import of its judgment in order to block the holding of elections by July 31.
"While the Constitutional Court has a duty to accept the litigation, the cases filed so far have no chance in heaven of forcing the Court to reverse its judgment.
"That is legally impossible. The best way of changing or reversing that judgment is by getting Parliament to amend the Constitution or to make a new law and you have a better chance of flying to Mars tomorrow and coming back the same day than having either the Constitutional Court reversing the judgment or having Parliament amend the Constitution or enact a new law to reverse the judgment," she said.
The crushing Constitutional Court judgement, that had seven judges agreeing to two dissenting - the lawyer said - was solid and would survive generations and will be used as case law in many jurisdictions around the world.
"The bottom line is they are using donor money, if it was their money, they wouldn't proceed with this because the likely verdict is dismissal with costs," the lawyer said.
The Strategic Litigation Document, which is a clear attack on the bench, names specific judges that the group said were cause for concern to the success of their grand plan.
The meeting was attended by Mr Chris Mhike (Atherstone and Cook) who chaired; the MDC-T trio of Eric Matinenga, Tendai Biti and Douglas Mwonzora; Ms Rose Zigomo (Prime Minister's Office); Selby Hwacha (Dube, Manikai and Hwacha Legal Practitioners), Alex Magaisa (Prime Minister's Office), Advocate Lewis Uriri (Advocate Chambers), Alec Muchadehama (Mbidzo, Muchadehama and Makoni Legal Practitioners), George Gapu (Scanlen and Holderness), Arnold Tsunga (Africa Regional Programme of the International Commission of Jurists), Dzimbahwe Chimbga (ZLHR), Rose Hanzi (ZLHR), Jeremiah Bamu (ZLHR) and Tawanda Zhuwarara (ZLHR).
Source - The Herald
