MDC leader Welshman Ncube yesterday said the courts should guard against inviting intellectual ridicule on themselves by issuing questionable judgments that have far-reaching consequences, as they cannot be reversed.
REPORT BY NQOBILE BHEBHE
Ncube, a constitutional lawyer by profession, was reacting to Friday’s Constitutional Court ruling on elections that ordered President Robert Mugabe to immediately proclaim dates for harmonised general elections and ensure they are held no later than July 31.
“A judgment by the final court in the land has far-reaching implications considering that, if it is wrong, it is uncorrectable,” he said.
“The power to be the final arbiter in any country surely carries with it immense responsibility.
“Thus, any final court in any country should be scrupulously careful and responsible.”
The MDC leader said although court judgments should be respected, the courts must not misrepresent facts.
“We all need to respect court judgments because not to do so invites anarchy.
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“Courts of law should in turn avoid, at all costs, inviting intellectual ridicule on themselves,” he said.
“When you have immense final judicial authority, as does our Constitutional Court, you must not make judgments which tell us that one plus one equals three.”
On Friday, the court also ruled that failure by Mugabe to fix and proclaim a date for elections by June 29 this year was a violation of his constitutional duty towards the country’s citizens.
The ruling followed an application by Jealousy Mawarire, demanding that Mugabe should urgently proclaim election dates, arguing further delays would disenfranchise the electorate.
Ncube stated he has repeatedly read the Supreme Court ruling and said: “My mind refuses to accept the possibility of the correctness of that judgment.
“I have read and reread the majority judgment over and over, again and again, and I have read again and again the provisions of the former Constitution and the current Constitution that fell for interpretation and my mind refuses to accept the possibility of the correctness of that judgment,” he said.
Seven of the nine Constitutional Court judges concurred with Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku that elections be held before the end of next month, but his deputy Justice Luke Malaba dissented, saying he refused to have “wool cast over my inner mind on this matter”.
A number of legal scholars have criticised the judgment, maintaining that the order was impractical.
