The opposition MDC said that it will appeal the High Court ruling that nullified Tinashe Kambarami’s election as councillor for Ward 3 and Bulawayo deputy mayor.
Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Thompson Mabhikwa last week reversed Kambarambi’s election on the basis that he was a convict.
In a statement, MDC Bulawayo spokesperson Swithern Chirowodza said the Judge has no power to unseat a councillor. Said Chorowodza:
We are appealing to the Supreme Court. The court cannot assign itself the powers to unseat a sitting councillor because those powers are vested in a tribunal set up by the Minister of Local Government in terms of Section 278 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
For a High Court judge to call such a strong constitutional argument ‘a legal nicety’ is a misdirection. The Constitution could not have been clearer in so far as the procedure to remove a sitting councillor is concerned.
… His worship, the deputy mayor of Bulawayo, councillor Tinashe Kambarami remains the elected people’s councillor.
His Worship, the deputy mayor of Bulawayo, councillor Kambarami will not be toppled by a litigant who is a mere simulacrum or sham device of the establishment.
Kambarami’s election was challenged by political pressure group 1893 Mthwakazi Restoration Movement Trust. Justice Mabhikwa granted the pressure group’s request.