Panicky Zanu-PF pressures judges as Mutasa lawsuit becomes imminent

Legal experts say Zanu-PF hawks are using thuggish tactics to frustrate the legal rights of disaffected party stalwarts, including Didymus Mutasa, who wants to take President Robert Mugabe's party to the courts for allegedly trampling intra-party democracy.

This follows ongoing comments by party bigwigs regarding the mooted legal action, which the legal experts say amounts to "clear bullying" of the judiciary so that by the time the lawsuit reaches the bench, the judiciary feels "decidedly pressured".

Just this past weekend, Patrick Chinamasa, the Zanu-PF secretary for legal affairs, told lickspittle State media that the ruling party would not allow an internal dispute to be taken to courts by the disaffected members.

Chinamasa claimed no Zimbabwean court had jurisdiction to decide party affairs.

But legal experts disagreed strongly with his views saying, Chinamasa, an experienced lawyer himself, knew very well that it was "patently false" to claim that proceedings within political parties were not subject to judicial review.

Justice Alfred Mavedzenge, a constitutional law expert, said the question whether judges had the jurisdiction to hear a legal dispute depended on how Mutasa would frame his case.

Mutasa should be able to clearly identify and demonstrate in his founding affidavit that Zanu-PF or whoever is the respondent has violated his rights, the judges will have sufficient competence to adjudicate the matter.