THE fate of one of the candidates running for the post of Zifa president will be decided today.
High Court judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi is expected to make a ruling today in a case in which one of the aspiring candidates, Walter Magaya, is challenging his disqualification from the running for the association's presidency.
The Zifa elections are expected to be held this Saturday.
With the case set to be determined today, there is a possibility of elections going ahead on Saturday or being postponed if Magaya gets his way.
Magaya failed the eligibility test after he failed to include his O Level certificate, having submitted three diplomas that he holds.
Through his representatives, he argued before Justice Chitapi last week that he should have been given seven days to produce that certificate.
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He also argued that he submitted superior qualifications to the O Level certificate, which was confirmation enough that, indeed, he had set for and passed five O Levels, the minimum threshold.
Magaya’s lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu argued that the Zifa ethics committee’s decision should be reversed.
“What brings us to court is a simple and very straightforward issue. The requirement set out in the Zifa constitution is clear. It says ‘O Level or an equivalent qualification’,” he said.
“If a qualification issued by a university is even better than O Level, on that, this application ought to succeed.”
Magaya submitted a Marketing Diploma and a higher National Diploma in the same field of study as well as a Diploma in Theology.
“The respondents show that they are alive to a fact that they have to give reasons for the disqualification. But what they have not done is to give reasons to say that the documents they received do not amount to a qualification,” Mpofu argued in Magaya’s corner.
“What the constitution establishes is a minimum requirement. The tariff in the statute is a minimum qualification. The Electoral Code envisages that candidates may fail to meet requirements by failing to produce certain documents and when they fail, they don’t get disqualified.”
Lovemore Madhuku, representing Zifa, argued that Magaya’s application was not properly before the court.
“The decisions of Zifa are not reviewable by this court. Zifa is a private organisation, not an administrative authority,” Madhuku said.
“The law is clear that only disputes involving administrative authorities can be reviewed by the court.
“The High Court reviews cases from inferior courts, administrative authorities or tribunal. Zifa falls under none of those. It is a private, non-profit organisation, according to Article 1.1 of the Zifa constitution.”
During the hearing, Justice Chitapi said Zifa was supposed to bring a record of proceedings, which culminated in Magaya’s disqualification.
The elections faced another challenge from Temba Mliswa, but he withdrew midway through after realising that his matter was heading for the brick wall on Tuesday before the same judge.