‘Panic galore! You have 5 million votes, why run to the High Court. Cowards!’

UK based corporate lawyer Lloyd Msipa has argued that the application by Zanu PF activist Lovedale Mangwana to block Saviour Kasukuwere from contesting in the presidential election this year will fall ‘flat on its face’ because the High Court has no such authority.

Mangwana approached the High Court with an urgent application claiming Kasukuwere has been away from Zimbabwe for 18 months and so, “does not qualify to be a candidate to the election of the president of the Republic of Zimbabwe”.

Mangwana cited the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) as a respondent saying that he was “puzzled” that Kasukuwere’s papers were accepted at the nomination court last week on Wednesday, when by law he should have been removed from the voters roll.

But taking to Twitter on Tuesday, Msipa a member of Kasukuwere’s campaign team said “Panic galore! You have 5 million votes, why run to the High Court. Cowards! This application falls flat on its face, it’s “void ab initio” The High Court & Nomination Court are at par.

“The High Court has no authority to remove a name on a register compiled by another statutory authority. The authority has exclusive jurisdiction over such.

“The High Court can only act on review. This is a Constitutional matter & the Constitutional Court must be the Court of first instance!” Msipa argued.

Kasukuwere a former cabinet minister and others who were part of President Robert Mugabe’s government fled the country after the November 2017 that toppled the Zanu PF leader who had been in power for 37 years.

After successfully filing his nomination papers last week, Kasukuwere moved a gear up and named his campaign team which will be chaired by former Foreign Affairs and Tourism minister Walter Mzembi.

According to a statement released on Sunday, the team includes prominent lawyers Munyaradzi Bwanya, Jacqueline Sande, Munyaradzi Midzi, Lloyd Msipa and Ali Naka, a media consultant.

Although currently still in self-imposed exile in South Africa, Kasukuwere has insisted that he will come back to campaign on the ground in Zimbabwe.

According to National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, Kasukuwere has two arrest warrants hanging over his head, over four counts of criminal abuse of office, that were issued way before he expressed his desire to run for the presidency.

“We have two warrants of arrest that have not been cancelled yet. The first warrant was issued by magistrate Mujaya on 18 January 2019 where he was facing criminal law charges under Section 174 (b) (a) of the criminal law code because he defaulted court under number CRB HarareR842/18.

“The second warrant is under 39/18, he was given his passport but failed to submit it back within the stipulated period so the police should execute these warrants they are currently in possession of and so far there are no indications that they have been cancelled,” he said.