via Court rules in favour of Tsvangirai | The Zimbabwean 27 June 2014 by Sofia Mapuranga
The high court today ruled in favour of MDC President, Morgan Tsvangirai, and blocked his intended appearance before a disciplinary hearing meant to expel him from his party.
Tsvangirai was recently summoned by former Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s MDC Renewal Team to appear before a disciplinary committee facing 17 counts of violating the party’s constitution.
In his judgement delivered in his chambers today, High Court Judge Justice Happias Zhou, granted an interdict barring the Renewal Team from proceeding with any intended disciplinary hearing against Tsvangirai.
“Pending finalisation of the applicant’s action brought under case HC 4955/14, the respondents and any person claiming through them be and are hereby interdicted from implementing any resolution of the meeting held by the respondents at Mandel training centre on April 26 2014,” said Justice Zhou.
“Any proceedings that may have been instituted against any office bearers of the second applicant pursuant of the resolutions of the meeting afore said be and are hereby stayed until finalisation of case no HC 4955/14.”
Justice Zhou said because the respondents had not filed opposing papers, “the effect of that is that the factual averments contained in the founding affidavit are unchallenged”.
“Professor Lovemore Madhuku for the respondents acknowledged that position and submitted that reliance will be placed on the legal issues to oppose the application,” said Justice Zhou.
Tsvangirai yesterday filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court seeking to stop his supposed disciplinary hearing slated for today.
He is accused of contravening “sections of article 2.1 of the disciplinary code of conduct and regulations” as stated in MDC-T’s constitution and failure to provide competent leadership and acting in a manner detrimental to party objectives.
Biti and his lieutenants suspended Tsvangirai and five other MDC-T officials in March, accusing them of violating the party constitution and using violence as a political tool.
The Tsvangirai faction hit back and expelled Biti, Mangoma and others who endorsed his suspension.
The party’s national chairman, Lovemore Moyo was also summoned to attend the same disciplinary hearing on charges including alleged failure to conduct free and fair primary elections before last year’s harmonised polls.
In his urgent chamber application filed yesterday by Mwonzora and Associates, the MDC-T – through Thamsanqa Mahlangu and Moyo sought an order barring the Renewal Team from implementing the resolution of the Mandel Training Centre meeting of April 26 this year.
The Tsvangirai faction listed Biti, the party’s former deputy treasurer, Elton Mangoma, former minister of water, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo and MDC’ s guardian council member, Sekai Holland as respondents.
Speaking to journalists after the ruling, MDC-T’s spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said the judgement was fair considering that the Mandel meeting was null and void and dragging their party president was an embarrassment on his persona.
“How can another opposition party drag the president of another political party before their dubious hearing? It was illegal and unfair and the court’s ruling has demonstrated that and has proven that we are right,” Mwonzora said.
Mwonzora said the disciplinary hearing ‘before Biti’s kangaroo court’ was meant to embarrass Tsvangirai.
“The invitation that was sent to president Tsvangirai does not contain the names of people who constitute the tribunal and it does not also state the venue; it simply says Mandel Training Centre,” said Mwonzora.
He said because the summons of the purported disciplinary hearing did not contain the time that Tsvangirai was supposed to go for the hearing, it was meant for other purposes other than legal purposes.
COMMENTS
LET BITE GO JOIN ZANUPF WHO , ACCORDING TO HIM, WERE BETTER ORGANISED DURING THE RIGGED ELECTIONS!
FOR SURE VANHU HAVADZIDZE AVA
I cannot help but feel sorry for the blunderous Tendai Biti and his outfit. Their statement displays political amateurism of the worst kind. Soon they should be discovering that in the wake of the court interdict many among them who were not convinced about their strategy will now be doubting their authenticity. That is the effect of the interdict. It does not work in their favour at all. I can see people like Evelyn Masaiti and Lucia Matibenga who were in it for the money already reconsidering their positions and in the next few weeks deserting them all together. Politics is about the reality of perceptions.
I am reminded of the incident in 2005 when at the height of the split Job Sikhala made the same mistake of thinking that politics is about the legal. At that time Morgan Tsvangirai had taken the unusual step of suspending Job Sikhala without a disciplinary hearing. Job Sikhala taking advantage of the ensuing confusion had responded by approaching the courts to nullify the suspension. Morgan Tsvangirai did not even bother to file opposing papers with the court but instead rushed to the structures and confirmed the suspension of Sikhala. The interdict was granted in favor of Sikhala and a declaratory order issued reinstating him. With an obvious abundance of amateurism, Job Sikhala misread the political import of his suspension and instead thought it was a legal issue. He left the courts a jubilant man and even rushed to the press again. His next port of call would be the structures in his St Marys constituency, which he naively called to celebrate his victory at the courts against Tsvangirai. What a shock it was for Job Sikhala! No one turned up. Informed of real position the people had exercised their right of disassociation and declined to recognise him. That was the beginning of the end of Job Sikhala’s political career. Now we see the same naivety being celebrated by the Tendai Biti outfit.
Simple facts are that in the public court of opinions the judicial court system only serves to harden people’s resolve. This time around because the Tendai Biti outfit had overwhelmed the Tsvangirai team with distortions through the media the interdict, though temporal, has helped clarify the real position with the public. The perception created by the interdict is that Tsvangirai’s claims of an attempted coup have been confirmed. From now on the people on the ground will view the Tendai Biti faction as a group of power hungry people who were keen on seizing power by circumventing their participation. In other words this seals the outfit’s fate politically in the direction of doom.
This spells doom for the so called renewal team. I totally agree with Itayi. The court interdict clarifies the distortions that the renewal team was riding on. They could not even respond to the facts raised by the Tsvangirai team. It confirms that Tsvangirai was actually undermined by his own during the 2013 election campaign. Now suddenly the renewal team is awah with money. Where is it coming from? What are the donors giving them this support for? They have never pronounced what they really stand for apart from the distortions that that have been clarified by the court’s interdict. In another development we are also informed that Gift Nyandoro was going to be part of the tribunal that was put together to try try Tsvangirai. Everyone knows that Gift Nyandoro is a Welshman Ncube activist. I have no sympathy for the renewal team. The sooner it disintegrates the better for our struggle.
Biti is a dwarf in oversized robes…just to use prof moyo’s words
Biti dai angotsvaga Zita rake otanga kucampaigner ngaasasevenzesa surname yemumwe
Biti and his colleagues are a bunch of Clowns,hell-bent on weakening the voice of the suffering people of Zimbabwe
kusaziva kufa weeee……..my question as always, Where is democracy in MDC? hushe madzoro mhanduwe.
biti could have made an assessment on whether the majority of mdct sympathisers are willing to join him.Haven’t he learnt from Job sikhala and Welshman.
The only person set on destroying the
Mdc is Morgan tsvangirai. If he really had any interest in the party he would have passed the button. The man is worse than bob. His desire is to sink with the ship.
Back to serious business!! The MDC escapade and experiment is over!! with very clear results. The MDC can’t work and ZANU PF seems as stable as the fenno-scandia and just as cool. The confusion in the MDC suggests ZANU PF is the best solution to the Zimbabwe proble because there cannot be a viable alternative. It’s time to come back and work together as one and avoid useless bickering involving disorganized BITIs and Tsvangsons. The truth is that the MDC only managed to cause hatred and mayhem among the people and could not own up in the end. As I see it There is no need for fighting now as it only stems development. I am not and have never been an MDC or ZANU PF member but just a bystander but what I have observed up to now point to the need to work with ZANU PF even if some don’t like is. MDC in any manner is not the solution. Its a fiasco of gargantuan proportions and a costly experiment – so much for multi-party democracy. It was actually a multi-person demagogery and personality arena pitching Tsvangirai, Biti- Mangoma axis and the Ncube – Sibanda axis and the inconsequential Sikhala axis. A house in smitherens. I am an advocate of multi-partysm but not an adherent to nihilism of the MDC. They have categorically failed. If people dont go back to ZANU PF the what? We have to make do with what we have. It’s time for you guys to reconcile under ZANU PF. even rukuvhute rwaTsvangson is in ZANU PF. Time to go back home for the prodigal son. No other option available! Take my advice. There is nothing to wait for because hapana chekumirira. Guys let those without the stamina admit defeat. No need for hard feelings at the expense of the whole nation. MDC together with is pieces and rags has failed TOTALLY……Tecnical Knockout.
Honestly GUys ….Whats left of MDC. I could see it coming. Tsvangrai has autocratic tendencies…and the same has brought the party down. Biti’s emotionalism also points the Tsvangirai way…dictatorship and domineering. Hapana zvemba apa!! Back to your Roots….all of you they will receive you withboth hands and feet at ZANU PF. Your little adventure is over. TIME FOR NATION BUILDING AND EVERY MAN TO HIS TOOLS! NO TIME FOR GAMES! PAINFUL BUT TRUE.
What is it that politicians don’t understand? What is it that we understand? We understand that at the moment there are fights within Zanu pf and fights within the MDC. Zunde’s silence is deafening. Makoni is silent. Dabengwa is silent. This means we are in the eye of the storm. Definition”The eye is a region of mostly calm weather found at the center of strong tropical cyclones.” If there are no cool heads and answers soon all hell is going to break loose.
@The GBU Google says
As Autoresponder points out, the eye of the hurricane is dangerous because inexperienced people may suppose that the storm has departed when in fact it will resume at full force as soon as the storm’s eye passes by and its eye wall (which immediately surrounds the eye and contains the hurricane’s strongest winds) moves overhead. I grew up in a city on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico and can well remember being instructed in elementary school not to go out in a hurricane that suddenly became calm and seemed to have dissipated—because that was a sign that the eye was passing overhead.
So technically, “eye of the storm” refers to a false calm at the center of a real or figurative storm (specifically, a strong tropical cyclone).
So you might be correct.
Siyanayi naSave nemusha wake . Vakayi wenyu.
Zimbabwe has a judge name Happy-ass? That’s just too funny.