Mutambara withdraws court appeal against Welshman Ncube

Professor Arthur Mutambara has withdrawn his constitutional appeal in which he was challenging a High Court ruling on the control of the MDC party.

Professor Mutambara represented by Aleck Muchadehama filed the notice of withdrawal at the Supreme Court more than a year after losing his legal battle with Professor Welshman Ncube over the control of the MDC.

In a judgment handed over in 2011 by Justice Nicholas Mathonsi, Justice Lawrence Kamocha barred Professor Mutambara from conducting any business on behalf of the MDC or to present himself as president or principal of the party.

The MDC led by Professor Ncube sought confirmation of a provisional order barring Mutambara from presenting himself as president of the MDC and to stop representing the party in the Global Political Agreement.

The legal battle between Ncube and Mutambara started in January 2011 at the MDC congress in Harare where Mutambara challenged the election of Ncube as president.

Mutambara, together with 13 others, allegedly contested the legitimacy of the party structures which emerged from the congress elections.