The Bulawayo High Court has reserved judgment on a case brought by 10 members of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), who are challenging the rejection of their nomination papers by ZEC.
The CCC members allege that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) prevented them from submitting their party list nomination papers, depriving them of the opportunity to contest in the upcoming harmonised elections. They have asked the court to order ZEC to permit them to submit their candidate names and reverse the election of the ZANU-PF provincial council candidates who stood unopposed.
ZEC’s Bulawayo Provincial Elections Officer (PEO), Innocent Ncube, refuted the allegations made by the CCC members. He claimed that the opposition party had three party lists for Senatorial, National Assembly, and Youth quotas, but none for the Provincial Council. According to Ncube, CCC attempted to submit its Provincial Council party list while submitting amendments to its initial nomination papers, which was prohibited.
The matter was heard before Justice Bongani Ndlovu on July 3, and judgment has been reserved. The CCC members have argued that the matter is urgent as the election is approaching, and the judgment needs to come before the election. ZEC has opposed the application, arguing that the High Court lacks jurisdiction in the matter, and the application should be struck off the roll as it lacks a legal basis.