THE Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) on Tuesday said it would appeal a High Court decision which barred its candidates from contesting in the February 3 by-elections.Last week, the High Court ruled in favour of self-imposed interim secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu who was seeking to stop CCC candidates backed by party leader Nelson Chamisa from contesting the polls.
Tshabangu triggered the by-elections after recalling several CCC legislators and councillors who were elected last year in the August 23 to 24 polls. Tshabangu, however, blocked the aspiring legislators and councillors saying they had ceased to be party members and could not contest under the CCC banner, the same reason he used to recall elected candidates.
On Tuesday, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) issued a notice declaring some Zanu PF local government candidates duly elected following the High Court ruling.CCC spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi said Zec had prematurely acted.
“The CCC wishes to inform members of the public that the statement by the Zimbabwe Election Commission alleging that our candidates have been barred and, therefore, Zanu PF candidates have been duly elected following the High Court ruling of the 19th of January 2024 are false, inaccurate, misleading and premature,” Mkwananzi said in a statement.
“We are still well within the stipulated timeline to lodge our appeal with the Supreme Court as provided for by the law.“We are going to lodge the appeal within the stipulated time frame and our candidates, voters, supporters and members of the public are advised to forge on with their campaigns and preparations as planned and scheduled.”
Mkwananzi urged Zec to be professional and impartial pending their appeal.“We do not expect the electoral management body to recklessly jump-the-gun in matters of such national significance as this further diminishes Zec's already questioned standing as credible arbiter in national electoral contestations, a point already belaboured by the opposition, civil society and all electoral observer missions that participated in the disputed August 23, 2023 general elections,” he said.
In the notice, Zec’s chief elections officer Utloile Silaigwana said Zanu PF candidates had been duly nominated in Chiredzi town council wards 6 and 7, Harare Municipality wards 5 and 18, Manyame Rural District Council ward 7 following the High Court ruling.Ironically, Tshabangu did not field candidates for the vacant seats.
“Consequently, the public is hereby notified, in terms of section 125(4)(a) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13], that since only one candidate has been duly nominated for each of the specified vacant wards, the persons specified in Schedule 2 below have been duly elected as members of the local authorities with effect from the 3rd of February 2024,” Silaigwana said.
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