Judgment reserved in Kasukuwere’s presidential bid challenge

Harare (New Ziana) –High Court Judge Justice David Mangota on Friday reserved judgment in the case in which a private citizen is seeking to bar former cabinet Minister Saviour Kasukuwere from contesting in the August 23 presidential election on legal grounds.

Kasukuwere’s election agent, Jacqueline Sande in a tweet confirmed the court’s position adding that her client, who has registered to run for President as an independent in the forthcoming polls, is upbeat that the application will be dismissed.

Lawyer Lovedale Mangwana who also cites the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi as defendants, has challenged Kasukuwere’s candidacy in the courts on grounds that the politician has been living outside Zimbabwe for more than 18 months, and therefore is ineligible to take part.

He argues that the nomination court erred in accepting Kasukuwere’s papers to contest in the elections as an independent Presidential candidate because his 18-month long absence from the country and constituency meant that he had ceased to be a registered voter.

Therefore, Mangwana states, the nomination court’s decision to register Kasukuwere as candidate was in violation of the Constitution.

“The 1st respondent has not been resident in any constituency in the Republic of Zimbabwe for a period in excess of 18 consecutive months and his name cannot, by that circumstance, be retained on the voter’s roll,” he said.

However, Sande, who successfully filed Kasukuwere’s nomination papers at the High Court in Harare on June 21, says the case was too shallow and frivolous, and is going to collapse.

She said Kasukuwere who is represented by Harrison Nkomo in his argument contends that Mangwana had approached the wrong forum and without sufficient evidence to sustain his case.

New Ziana