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(NEWZIMBABWE) Ncube legitimate MDC leader: court

Ncube legitimate MDC leader: court
13/06/2012 00:00:00
by Herald

PROFESSOR Welshman Ncube is the legitimate leader of the MDC party, the High Court ruled on Tuesday. Justice Bharat Patel also ruled that the congress held by the party in January 2011 was above board.

The judge also validated the party’s election, which gave Prof Ncube the mandate to lead the party as its president. The ruling follows an application by Jobert Mudzumwe, Morgan Changamire and other MDC members aligned to the Prof Arthur Mutambara faction seeking to nullify the congress and the election of the party’s national executive.

The group, which was represented by Obey Shava of Mbidzo Muchadehama and Makoni, had argued that the congress was conducted in violation of the party constitution.

It was argued that the organisers of the congress failed to send notices to all provinces and districts as required by the party constitution.

The group also argued that the election process was flawed in the sense that the party national organising secretary chaired the election instead of the party national chairman.

They also contested the election nomination process. However, Justice Patel threw out the application for lack of merit.

The judge ruled that the fact that the national organising secretary chaired the meeting was justified considering that the party chairman had deliberately absented himself.

Abandoning the congress because of the chairman’s deliberate absence would amount to promoting monopoly in party leadership.

“It follows that the resolution authorising the national organising secretary to perform the functions of the national chairperson at the congress, including the conduct of elections under Article 6.13.3, was perfectly competent under the aegis of Article 15.1.

“In the instant case, having deliberately absented himself from the congress, the first applicant (Mudzumwe) cannot rely on his absence to argue that all the proceedings at the congress were a nullity because he was not present.

“To allow him to do so would enable him to benefit from his own deliberate abstention to the extreme prejudice of the entire MDC party membership. It would allow party leaders to circumvent and frustrate the electoral process and remain in office indefinitely through the simple stratagem of non-attendance,” he ruled.

Justice Patel shot down the challenge on proper notification of provinces and districts.

He ruled that the party members complied with the constitutional requirement.

“Over 4,000 delegates representing all the provinces and districts actually attended the congress.

“Those who did not attend, including the applicants, deliberately chose to boycott. In any event, virtually all the applicants were members of the national council and were present at the meeting where the dates of the congress were fixed.
“It follows in my view that the provision was not violated in any way and was duly complied with,” Justice Patel ruled.

The election process, the judge ruled, was above board and in line with the party constitution.

“In short, what transpired at the congress in casu was an electoral process. I am therefore inclined to conclude that the proceedings under consideration, notwithstanding the absence of any opposition to the candidates nominated, constituted elections in the formal sense, requiring the active involvement of a designated official to preside over the conduct of those elections,” the court ruled.
Changamire said the group intended to appeal against the judgment.

“We are not happy with the judgment. The judgment left out a lot of issues. We are taking it up to the Supreme Court. We will soon file an appeal,” he said.

In December last year, Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Lawrence Kamocha granted an application by Ncube to interdict Mutambara from acting as both party president and principal to the Global Political Agreement.
Justice Kamocha ruled that on the basis of the final order sought, Mutambara was no longer MDC president.

He said the party was justified in launching the application restraining Mutambara from persisting with his behaviour.

The judge added that the outcome of the party congress remained valid until and unless it was set aside by a court of law.

However, the matter is still pending in the Supreme Court after Mutambara appealed against the ruling.

Labels: MDC, WELSHMAN NCUBE

posted by MrK @ 2:14 PM