By 
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) spokesperson, Commissioner Doctor Qubani Moyo says ZEC erred and were wrong in announcing Chegutu West Member of Parliament Hon Dexter Nduna as the duly elected legislator for that constituency.
Speaking on a workshop hosted by Zec at Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) Hotel which ended yesterday, the ZEC Commissioner alluded that indeed they made a mistake, and stood by MDC Alliance Gift Konjana.
However Hon Dexter Nduna on the other hand according to the law is justified because the electoral court dismissed Konjana’s election petition on the basis that it was defective. Konjana turned to the Supreme Court which also declined to hear his case on grounds that his appeal was filed late, and not within three months as stipulated by the Electoral Act. Konjana has now focused on the Constitutional Court ( Concourt ) for salvation.
Nevertheless ZEC has been put in a legal fix over this confirmed anomaly after it erroneously declared the Zanu PF candidate for Chegutu West as the winner of the 2018 polls ahead of MDC Alliance’s Gift Konjana. The error, which was committed by the district election officer identified as Maisiri, has left the commission faced with a legal challenge which could add more questions around the election’s credibility.
According to information availed to TechnoMag by ZEC, Konjana is still dragging Zec to court after the commission “erred” by announcing Nduna as the MP and refused to reverse the result, saying only an electoral court could do so.
Qubani Moyo said “At law, once a person is declared a winner, no one other than the court can reverse that. What is clear is Konjana won, but must now win in court and push for either re-election or him being declared winner,”
Moyo added ”Konjana went to the Supreme Court and lost on a technicality. That isn’t ZEC’s fault that he lost on a technicality.”
On whether Zec will reverse the final results, Dr Qubani Moyo said ”everything now lies with the courts. The last time i remember Konjana was fighting in the courts, he lost on a technicality…”
According to a V23 form — the basis upon which the declaration was made — Nduna won the seat by 10 932 votes ahead of Konjana who garnered 10 828.
But the MDC Alliance candidate has alleged a tabulation error occurred and prejudiced him of 120 votes erroneously awarded to one Simon Kache of UCADPGPZ. Information at hand suggests that Kache got a single vote at a polling station while Konjana polled 121, but the data was mixed up. Had the mix-up not occurred, Nduna could have lost the race by four votes, but he won by a margin of 116 votes.
The Zanu PF MP and his lawyers are challenging the attempt to reverse the victory, as the district election officer should be held liable for failing to do his work properly and such a failure should not affect their victory.Contacted for a comment Nduna excused himself saying the matter is still before the courts and can therefore not comment on it.
Dr Qubani confirmed to TechnoMag, that the commission was never in a quandary on whether to oppose the impending legal challenge or not as some were suggesting that the commission would oppose Konjana and then later take disciplinary measures against the district election officer.The Supreme Court meanwhile removed from the roll an appeal by MDC-Alliance losing candidate for Chegutu West Mr Gift Konjana challenging the the victory of Zanu-PF party legislator Cde Dexter Nduna in the July 2018 harmonised elections.
Mr Konjana failed to comply with the law which required him to have the election petition to be heard within the prescribed three months, after he filed his heads of argument way out of time.
He challenged the Electoral Court’s decision rejecting his election petition on the grounds that it was fatally defective.Mr Konjana was seeking an order to overturn the Electoral Court’s decision confirming Cde Nduna as the legislator for Chegutu West constituency.
In his appeal, Mr Konjana, argued that the Electoral Court erred in October 2018 in finding that his petition against Cde Nduna was fatally defective for want of compliance with court rules.
Konjana argued that Justice Zimba-Dube blundered by placing no significance on the merits of his petition in view of the fact that ZEC acknowledged under oath the error that resulted in the undue return complained against.
Mr Konjana wanted the Electoral Court’s decision to be set aside and in its place be substituted with an order to the effect that the matter be referred to trial on the merits before a different judge of the Electoral Court.
Whatever will happen in the court of appeal, ZEC admitted to making a grave mistake that saw the ascendancy of one Dexter Nduna and Dr Moyo confirmed they corrected their anomaly but it was up to the courts to declare Konjana as winner and their not declaring Konjana is not their fault.
Commissioner Dr Moyo said ”they are looking foward to 2023 elections and will not want to see a repeat of the same mistake that saw Konjana lose to Nduna when he should be the one in parliament.”
However, ZEC admitted to the anomaly but informed Konjana to seek redress through the courts as it had no powers to reverse the announced results.The opposition activist immediately filed a petition at the Electoral Court raising his objections on the result.
However, in October 2018, the Electoral Court judge, Justice Mary Zimba-Dube dismissed Konjana’s election petition on the basis that it was defective.
This prompted Konjana to appeal against the Electoral Court judgment at the Supreme Court which also declined to hear his case on grounds that his appeal was filed late, and not within three months as stipulated by the Electoral Act.This resulted in the case spilling to the Constitutional Court where Konjana raised arguments that his rights had been violated by the courts.
In his response, to the ConCourt challenge, Nduna through his lawyers argued Konjana should not just insist his case should have been heard yet it was turned down in terms of the law.
Nduna also argued there was no proper foundation of the arguments by Konjana in the Supreme Court as constitutional issues were only raised in his heads of argument.
“Grounds of appeal were not raised in the court a quo, what was before the court were preliminary objections and not constitutional issues. The appeal failed because the applicant didn’t prosecute his case so that an electoral appeal is heard within three months,” argued his lawyer before the judgment was reserved indefinitely.
As it stands Zimbabwe especially Chegutu West awaits the judgement which has been reserved indefinitely.Will it be Nduna 4th time lucky ir is a a question of the proverbial cat, Konjana being thrown amongst the pegions.Inly time will tell as Zimbabwe’s legal system is tested and tried on the merits, Dexter Nduna did nothing wrong, neither did his losing opponent but Zec admits it was worng.
For a case that is subjudice however neither Zec nor Nduna or even Konjana can change these dynamics.We can only wait on the Concourt to take its time and give a ruling.
Comments