HIGH Court judge Justice Faith Mushure has struck off the roll an urgent application by the Jameson Timba-led Citizens Coalition Change (CCC) to block a faction from getting the allocation from the Political Parties’ Fund.
According to a notice published in the Government Gazette last month, the other CCC faction aligned to self-imposed interim secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu will receive ZiG22 116 500 as part of the ZiG70 million disbursed for political parties that participated in the August 2023 harmonised elections.
Timba’s CCC had cited Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion minister Mthuli Ncube, Tshabangu and another CCC faction and its leader Welshman Ncube as respondents.
But Justice Mushure ruled that the matter was not urgent as the applicants had waited “until it was too late”.
She said the Timba faction was aware since the beginning of this year that Tshabangu would be allocated the funds, but did not take action to challenge it.
“On the facts placed before me, there was an undue delay and laxity on the part of the applicants in bringing this application to court,” Justice Mushure said in her judgment.
“The factual circumstances giving rise to this urgent application were known to the applicant and have been ongoing since at least October 16, 2023.”
She said the applicant did not take any steps for a considerable period to prevent the irreparable harm it now perceives.
“An applicant is expected to have acted with the same urgency it wishes that the matter be accorded,” the judgment further reads.
“The expectation is that, faced with the alleged failure to respond from the first respondent and the conflicting media reports, the applicant would have reacted immediately to remedy the irreparable harm, rather than standing back and doing nothing until it was too late.”
Timba’s CCC faction had argued that if the application was not determined with urgency, they would suffer irreparable harm as there was no way of recovering the funds allocated to the Tshabangu faction.
They further submitted that the amount was “substantial” and that the third respondent, Tshabangu, could not pay it back.
“The applicants do not give cogent reasons for holding these views,” Justice Mushure said.
“They simply make bare allegations. In my view, if the application is not determined now, the first applicant does not irretrievably lose its right to recover the money. Neither will the first applicant lose its right to the money.
“The first applicant’s right to the money remains open, even if the matter is not dealt with urgently. Having regard to the probable consequences on the first applicant if the application is not dealt with without further delay, I consider that the application must also fail on the aspect of consequence. The perceived irreparable harm that the first applicant will suffer is not properly substantiated.”