Victory for Tsvangirai

The Supreme Court has upheld an appeal by Movement for Democratic Change leader, Morgan Tsvangirai and his legal team against an electoral court judgement instructing the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to charge them for contemptuous conduct.

The Supreme Court bench composed of Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba, Justice Paddington Garwe and Justice Ben Hlatshwayo ordered by consent that Tsvangirai and his lawyers' appeal against a judgement handed down by Justice Chinembiri Bhunu succeeds with no order as to costs.

Deputy Chief Justice Malaba, who handed down the ruling, set aside Justice Bhunu's part of the order which referred to the alleged contemptuous conduct by Tsvangirai and his legal practitioners and instructed that the issue be referred to the NPA or the Prosecutor General for investigations.

The bench further set aside the electoral court's order instructing the appellant and legal practitioners to bear the costs of the law suit.

The appellant's lawyers had informed the court that the first part of the appeal which was seeking for the electoral court to hear them on an urgent basis over their application to have the electoral ballots to be opened and inspected was no longer relevant as the Constitutional Court had already ruled over the matter.