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April 15, 2008
HIGH Court judge Justice Tendayi Uchena
yesterday dismissed with costs an application by MDC-T seeking
an order compelling the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to
announce results of the presidential election.
"The application has been dismissed with
costs," said MDC-T lawyer Mr Alec Muchadehama, in a brief
statement to journalists.
He would not reveal his client's next
course of action, saying he needed to get the full written
judgment first.
The ruling was passed in chambers and
Justice Uchena said the full judgment and reasons would follow
later.
Mr George Chikumbirike, who represented
ZEC in the case, also confirmed the dismissal with costs of the
MDC-T urgent application.
MDC-T went to court on April 5, arguing
that the delay in the announcement of the result had caused
unnecessary anxiety among its supporters, the nation and the
international community.
It said the delay was unjustified, adding
it had a right to access such information upon demand and
request.
In his heads of argument, Mr Chikumbirike
argued that it would be dangerous for the court to grant an
order which might not be complied with.
"It would be dangerous to give an order
that may not be complied with in view of outside exigencies they
(ZEC) are not able to control. This is the reason why the
Constitution, in its wisdom, provided that issues of election
process are vested within the purview of the commission."
He said information on presidential
election results was privileged which the commission had an
entitlement to relate and release.
Mr Chikumbirike said ZEC was created by
the coun- try's Constitution and its integrity should not be
compromised.
He warned that trying to interfere with
the independence of ZEC would create problems in future.
Mr Chikumbirike argued that ZEC had
absolute discretion in matters of elections and the position was
not subject to appeal.
There was a heavy presence of riot police
at the High Court before and after the court's ruling.
Commenting on the High Court judgment,
chairperson of the Zanu-PF media committee, Cde Patrick
Chinamasa, said it was clear from the onset that the MDC-T
application had no merit and only sought to cause confusion in
the country.
"MDC-T application was doomed from the
onset as they were trying to stampede ZEC to announce incorrect
results in order to cause confusion," he said.
He said the application was also meant to
cause a delay in the announcement of the results so as to
portray the country as one in a crisis.
"Their application had no merit and was
meant to cause confusion and portray Zimbabwe as being in a
crisis. They wanted to precipitate a crisis as they do not want
ZEC to correct results or announce results that have not been
correctly arrived at."
The Ministry of Information and Publicity
yesterday said the High Court judgment exonerates Zanu-PF from
unfounded allegations made by MDC-T that it was interfering with
the electoral process resulting in the delay in the announcement
of presidential poll results by the ZEC.
In a statement last night, Deputy Minister
of Information and Publicity Cde Bright Matonga said the
judgment had completely vindicated Zanu-PF.
"This position, as found by the court,
exculpates Zanu-PF from the allegations made by the applicants (MDC-T)
in this matter which were to the effect that the delay as
alleged by themselves (MDC-T) in the release of the presidential
results were consistent and consequent upon interference by Zanu-PF.
"In short, it completely repudiates the
interference hype that characterised the reports in the local
and international media about the conduct of Zanu-PF," said Cde
Matonga.
Asked for comment, MDC-T deputy president
Thokozani Khupe said the judgment was meant to further delay the
election results, adding that her party was disappointed by the
court ruling.
She repeated her party's claims that it
had won the presidential election and insisted there was no need
for a run-off. |