Court rules in favour of Mnangagwa

Inauguration takes place tomorrow

ZIMBABWEAN president-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to be officially sworn into office tomorrow.

Yesterday, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Zanu-pf leader was the winner of the July 30 presidential polls.

The judgment by the court follows a cloud of uncertainty that hung over the country since the election results were released at the start of this month.

At the time, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance disputed the poll results with its leader, Nelson Chamisa, saying the Zimbabwe Electoral Commisson’s (ZEC) calculations were fraught with “cleric errors”.

In legal papers, Chamisa said he wanted the court to declare the results null and void as they had not been conducted in accordance with the law and were not free or fair.

But Chief Justice Luke Mlaba dismissed the MDC’S application on the basis that it had failed to provide substantial evidence to back-up its claims of rigging.

He questioned why the MDC Alliance did not insisted on a recount 48 hours after results were announced, despite having the platform to do so.

“… the vote of millions of people in an election is what the court is mandated to guard jealously,” Mlaba said.

According to the law, a new leader has to be inaugurated in the next 48 hours.

Leaving court the MDC said it wasn’t interested in congratulating Mnangagwa.

The party’s spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said: “We believe in the rule of law and we respect the verdict of the courts, more so the verdict of the people who overwhelmingly voted for president Nelson Chamisa for transformation, for opportunities and for the prosperity of their beloved country… we shall not only respect the verdict of the Bench, but we shall also doggedly pursue all constitutionally permissible avenues to ensure that the sovereign will of the people is protected and guaranteed.”

Reacting to the judgment, most analysts who closely monitored the election, agreed with the court decision, including Derek Matyszak of the Institute of Security Studies in South Africa.

He said although Chamisa performed “very well” in the polls he lacked evidence to prove that there was indeed rigging.

Eldred Masunungure, a veteran political scientist, said Chamisa’s case failed because judges were interested in the primary evidence being presented. “All other evidence was secondary.” Mike Magwaza, 47, a builder and a married father of three said: “To be honest, I can’t point at anything that Zanu-pf has done since independence except to steal elections. They are all thieves.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa has congratulated Mnangagwa, and urged all parties to accept the court’s decision.