Zimbabwean Citizen Takes ZEC To Court Demanding Fresh Elections

A Zimbabwean citizen named Brian Mari has taken the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to court, demanding a fresh election due to various irregularities, including a flawed delimitation exercise, NewsDay reported. The opposition party Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) was the first to dispute the results of the August 2023 elections, which declared President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the winner, describing it as a “gigantic fraud.”

In his court application, Mari also named Chief Justice Luke Malaba as a respondent, arguing that he lacked judicial authority in Zimbabwe. He said:

I, therefore, seek a declaratory declaring that the action of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Mr Luke Malaba and Mr Lewis Uriri are not lawful. Direct Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to conduct fresh elections that comply with all principles and laws governing a democratic process. Direct Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission to carry out an investigation on abuse of office and authority at Parliament, Zec and Courts and take appropriate action.

I, therefore, seek a declaratory that directs Law Society to conduct an investigation on the conduct of its members in relation to obligation imposed on every person by section 44 of the Constitution and binding in terms of section 45 and come up with a remedy that seek to protect right in section 67(1)(a) against the conduct of legal practitioners who carry instructions from two opposing parties, one in judicial robes and another as litigant and undermine democracy.

He further called for an investigation by the Law Society of Zimbabwe into lawyer Lewis Uriri, whom he accused of undermining democracy by representing two opposing parties. He said:

I am also putting before the court’s attention of a legal practitioner by the name Mr Lewis Uriri who is acting in all cases involving undermining the authority of Zimbabweans.

Mr Lewis Uriri is the legal representative of Mr Luke Malaba in the Musa Kika v Luke Malaba case. A judgement was issued showing Mr Uriri as the lawyer of Mr Malaba. Mr Uriri is also the lawyer of Mr Tshabangu. Judges are acting on instructions of Chief Justice as manned by Mr Luke Malaba as shown in Practice Direction and Mr Tshabangu is represented by Mr Luke Malaba’s lawyer, then whose instruction does Mr Uriri apply between Tshabangu instructions and Mr Malaba’s instructions?

Zimbabwe had a general election on August 23-24, 2023. After those elections, the country has held by-elections, and there are more scheduled for February. These by-elections aim to fill the vacant positions left by Members of Parliament (MPs) and councillors from the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) who were recalled by Sengezo Tshabangu. He claims to be the interim secretary general of the CCC. He argued that the recalled officials no longer belonged to the party.

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