Unsuccessful Zanu PF candidate in Mpopoma, Lovemore Munyamana, is vying for the victory of Ward 9 councilor Donaldson Maputo, asserting that his election in the December by-election was illegal due to his recall from the Citizens Alliance for Change party, making him ineligible to contest. .
Munyamana, a well-known bodybuilder and businessman, claimed that Maputo was “fully aware” that he had been recalled by the CCC, and was not accepted back into the party, but proceeded to misrepresent himself at the nomination tribunal held on 7 November the past. A year as a candidate.
The matter was heard before the Bulawayo Electoral Tribunal, a division of the High Court on Monday before Justice Bongani Ndlovu adjourned it to March 19, 2024.
Munyamana, through his lawyer Nqobisitha Ndlovu of Chida and Chida Associates, argues that there was an electoral irregularity in the filing of the nomination and the subsequent acceptance of Maputo as a candidate because he was not qualified in the circumstances.
This election petition also comes after the Supreme Court ruled last year that the nomination of the CCC’s withdrawn parliamentary candidates for the December 9 by-election was illegal and they should not stand in the election.
Munyamana noted that although Maputo was not a party to the above-mentioned Supreme Court case, the findings regarding the status and position of resigned members like him had been settled.
He said that the Supreme Court, in Case No. HCH 7543/23, sitting in Harare, had declared that members who had been removed could not participate as members of the CCC in the by-elections arising from their removal.
However, Maputo contested with seven other CCC councilors in Bulawayo in the by-election held on 9 December and won five council seats, losing three to the Zanu PF party.
“The withdrawn member cannot participate in by-elections under the same political party name before being re-admitted to membership of the party that invited him,” Munyamana said in his petition.
Munyamana said Maputo participated in the December 9 by-election “on the basis of a ballot paper that established that he was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.”
“It is clear that (Maputo’s) participation… was unlawful and illegal and was in any event contrary to the findings of a ruling of this court. His acceptance as a candidate was on the basis of conduct committed in clear contempt and in defiance of the fact of impeachment. It is a decision It was obtained by misrepresentation in any way to the extent that (Maputo) is not admitted to the CCC and his use of her name in nomination papers without her authorization amounts to misrepresentation.
Munyamana wants the court to annul Maputo’s election and declare a by-election for Section 9 of the other candidates except Maputo.
“I note that this matter is of serious public importance as it relates to the elections …It is at the heart of the country’s constitutional democracy. He added: “We publicly demand a final decision in this case.”
However, Maputo says in his notice of opposition that Munyamana is seeking to challenge the nomination process that qualified him as a candidate for the December 9 election, and that the compensation sought is “incompetent and untenable at its lowest levels.”
The counsel, represented by law firm Corious and Co, said: “I have been advised and acknowledge that the court cannot, on the basis of the present petition, completely exclude me from the by-election should it be declared.”
“No case has been advanced in the petition to justify my disqualification from the by-election that can be enforced by the court. There is no qualification in the petition that indicates my ineligibility to stand as a candidate, in terms of the law or constitution of the country.
Maputo also denied making any misrepresentation as his nomination papers were submitted in accordance with the law and he met the qualification requirements for nomination as a candidate.
“I was properly sponsored by my political party CC whose appointed officials signed my nomination papers to do so and I confirm that I did not apply for nomination under the political party that Chabangu represents.
While it is true that it was my illegal removal through a letter written by Chabangu that led to the by-election, I deny the suggestion that
I have ceased to be a member of the party that supported me in the by-election on 9 December. “There is nothing in the petition to explain how I stopped being a member of the CCC,” the councilor said.
Maputo “prays that the petition be dismissed with costs incurred by the client on a higher scale than the legal practitioner.” Site
