Constitutional Court Dismisses Delimitation Report Challenge

It is ordered that this application be and is hereby dismissed with no order as to costs.

The reasons of the full judgment will follow. No cause of action has been pleaded against the respondent.

Speaking to journalists on Monday outside Mashonganyika Building which houses the Constitutional Court, Chidawa’s lawyer Professor Lovemore Madhuku, said:

It’s a very disappointing judgment because the court has refused to have an opportunity to look at Section 119 (of the Constitution) and obligations of Parliament, thereof.

They will give their reasons later. I suspect the court does not want to interpret Section 119 to go as far as we had put it ourselves, which is accountability of State institutions such as independent commissions that Parliament is entitled to investigate how they operate in terms of the Constitution.

Section 119 of the Constitution, gives Parliament the power to ensure that provisions of the Constitution are upheld and that the State and all institutions and agencies of government at every level act constitutionally and in the national interest.

In his application, Chidawa accused Parliament of failing to nullify the ZEC delimitation report and initiate investigations into it.