Bhasikiti hits Mugabe again

Former Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Kudakwashe Bhasikiti has again taken President Robert Mugabe to court over the Mwenezi East by-election after the veteran ruler ignored a court order against setting a poll date for the constituency.
Kudakwashe Bhasikiti
Kudakwashe Bhasikiti

Former Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Kudakwashe Bhasikiti has again taken President Robert Mugabe to court over the Mwenezi East by-election after the veteran ruler ignored a court order against setting a poll date for the constituency.

By Everson Mushava

Bhasikiti, fired last month on allegations he supported former Vice-President Joice Mujuru, had on June 25 won a High Court order stopping Mugabe from proclaiming a by-election date until the former Mwenezi East MP’s case challenging his expulsion from Zanu PF was dealt with by the courts.

Mugabe last Friday set July 20 as the date for the sitting of the nomination court for the Mwenezi East by-election to be held on September 19.

In an urgent chamber application filed at the Constitutional Court by lawyer Tonderai Bhatasara yesterday, Bhasikiti said Mugabe was in contempt of court.

Mugabe is cited as the first respondent while the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was cited as the second respondent.

“I further contend that the first respondent’s actions are in breach of the order of the 25th of June and clearly in contempt,” Bhasikiti said.

“The first respondent was a party to the proceedings in case number CCZ45/2015.

“In other words he was aware of the order and the basis in respect of which this honourable court had proceeded to make the judgment.”

Bhasikiti said Mugabe was making a High Court matter academic yet it was also his duty, like any other citizen to respect the laws of the land.

He said the proclamation of the by-election date would prejudice his rights to a fair trial as the matter was still to be concluded.

He said his case was pending before the courts and allowing the sitting of the nomination court to go ahead would deny him the right to participate in the by-election.

Bhasikiti said Mugabe had violated the court order, the Constitution of the country and the principle of the rule of law.

“This court and all the judges who sat in that hearing, will recall that in arriving at the decision, the court and the lawyers concerned took note of the fact that a by-election had to be held by the 10th of September 2015,” he said.

“That being the case, it meant that in terms of Section 38 of the Electoral Act, the nomination Court, could sit at least 30 days before, which would have been the 10th of August 2015.

“The first respondent would have been aware of this and was aware of this, but notwithstanding this; he fixed the date of the proclamation in such a manner as to interfere with the integrity of the order of this honourable court.

“The proclamation is null and void to the extent that it provides for a by-election way out of the 90 days provided for by Section 159 of their Constitution.”

He said the matter was very urgent because he stood to be prejudiced of his right to participate in the elections.

“In any event, once the nomination court has sat and I lose the case, it means I would have been denied by right to participate in that election as a candidate even an independent candidate for Mwenezi East,” he said.

Bhasikiti is one of the former top Zanu PF officials who have vowed not to take their expulsion from the ruling party for allegedly supporting Mujuru lying down.