CHIEF Justice Luke Malaba has dismissed without a hearing self-exiled presidential candidate Saviour Kasukuwere’s application for leave to appeal against a Supreme Court ruling that upheld his disqualification.
Kasukuwere approached the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) after his application for appeal to remain on the ballot paper was dismissed by the Supreme Court.
ConCourt judges Justices Elizabeth Gwaunza, Paddington Garwe and Rita Makarau refused to hear his application saying their reasons will follow.
Yesterday, ConCourt Registrar Anitah Tshuma released Malaba’s reasons Kasukuwere’s application was dismissed.
“The application in terms of Rule 15(1) of the Constitutional Court Rules SI 61 of 2016 for an urgent hearing of the application for leave to appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court in case SC78/23 is declined for the following reasons,” the ConCourt Registrar wrote.
“The stages reached in the electoral processes provided for under the Constitution and the Electoral Law, the imminence of the election on 23 August 2023 and the nature of the matters for determination in the application for leave to appeal militate against a decision that the application for leave to appeal be considered an urgent application,” the judges ruled.
“The effect of the decisions of the subordinate courts is that the electoral processes currently underway are lawful. The application for leave to appeal should in the circumstances follow the ordinary procedures prescribed by the rules of the court.”
Kasukuwere had cited Zanu PF activist Lovedale Mangwana, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) and Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi as respondents.
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Mangwana caused Kasukuwere’s disqualification saying he was not a registered voter since he had been out of the country for more than 18 months.
He said Zec had violated the Electoral Act by accepting his nomination papers.
The former minister, however, said his rights as a voter were violated by the courts.
The ConCourt, however, dismissed his application for direct access saying his application was disguised as an appeal against the Supreme Court judgment.
