Zanu PF’s unsuccessful council candidate for Mpopoma, Lovemore Munyamana, is contesting the victory of Ward 9 councillor Donaldson Mabutho, asserting that his election in the December by-election was unlawful due to his recall from the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party, rendering him ineligible to contest.
Munyamana, a well-known bodybuilder and businessperson, claimed Mabuto was ‘fully aware’ that he had been recalled by the CCC, and had not been readmitted back into the party, but proceeded to misrepresent himself at the Nomination Court held on November 7 last year as a candidate.
This matter was heard before the Electoral Court in Bulawayo, a division of the High Court on Monday before Justice Bongani Ndlovu who postponed it to March 19, 2024.
Munyamana, through his lawyer, Nqobizitha Ndlovu from Cheda and Cheda Associates argues there was an electoral irregularity in the filing of the candidature and subsequent acceptance of Mabuto as a candidate since he was not qualified in the circumstances.
This election petition also comes after the High Court ruled last year that the nomination of the recalled CCC parliamentary candidates for the December 9 by-elections was illegal and they should not run for the elections.
Read: https://cite.org.zw/high-court-bars-recalled-ccc-candidates-from-dec-9-by-election/
Munyamana pointed out that although Mabuto was not a party to the above High Court matter, the findings regarding the status and position of recalled members like him were settled.
He said the High Court, case number HCH 7543/23, sitting in Harare declared that recalled members could not participate as members of the CCC in the by-elections arising from their recall.
However, Mabuto with seven other CCC-recalled councillors in Bulawayo contested in the December 9 by-elections and won five council seats, losing three to Zanu PF.
“The recalled member cannot participate in the by-elections under the same political party name before readmission into the membership of the party that called him,” Munyamana said in his petition.
Read: https://cite.org.zw/recalled-ccc-councillors-risk-having-election-nullified-if-they-contest/
Munyamana said Mabuto took part in the December 9 by-elections on the “basis of a ballot paper that passed him off as a member of the CCC.
“It is clear that (Mabuto)’s participation … was an irregularity and unlawful and was in any case contrary to findings made in an extant judgement of this court. His acceptance as a candidate was on the back of conduct perpetrated in clear contempt and defiance of the fact of his recall. It is a decision procured by misrepresentation at any rate to the extent that (Mabuto) was not admitted into the CCC and his use of its name in nomination papers without its licence amounts to misrepresentation,” he said.
Munyamana wants the court to set aside Mabuto’s election and a proclamation of a by-election for Ward 9 of the other candidates excluding Mabuto.
“I point out this matter is of serious public importance in that it concerns elections …is at the centre of the nation’s constitutional democracy. Publicly demands that there be a determination on this case once-and-for-all,” he said
However, Mabuto in his notice of opposition, argues that Munyamana seeks to impugn the nomination process which qualified him as a candidate for the December 9 poll and that the relief sought is “incompetent and untenable at low.”
“I am advised and submit that the court cannot on the basis of the present petition completely exclude me from a by-election in the event of one being proclaimed,” said the councillor who is represented by Corious and Co. Attorneys
“No case has been made in the petition to warrant the relief of my exclusion from a by-election that could possibly be activated by the court. There is no qualification in the petition which speaks to my disqualification to stand as a candidate, which is in terms of the act or constitution of the country.”
Mabuto further denied he made any misrepresentation as his nomination papers were submitted in terms of the law and satisfied the qualification requirements for nomination as a candidate.
“I was validly sponsored by my political party CC whose designated officers signed my nomination papers in doing so, I aver that I was not filing for nomination under the political party of which Tshabangu represents.
While it is correct that my illegal recall by a letter written by Tshabangu is what triggered a by-election, I deny the suggestion that I ceased to be a member of the party, which sponsored me to the December 9 (by-election). There is nothing in the petition which speaks to how I ceased to be a member of CCC,” said the councillor.
Mabuto “prays for the dismissal of the petition with costs on a higher scale of legal practitioner to client.”
