HIGH Court Judge Justice Mary Zimba-Dube will on Friday 17 August 2018 preside over the hearing and determination of a petition filed in the Electoral Court by a losing MDC Alliance party’s parliamentary candidate seeking to nullify the declaration by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of a ZANU PF legislator as the winner of the Chegutu West constituency.
Gift Machoka Konjana, of the MDC Alliance party petitioned the Electoral Court seeking an order to nullify the declaration by ZEC Constituency Elections Officer of Dexter Nduna of ZANU PF party as the duly elected Member of Parliament for Chegutu West constituency in Mashonaland West province in the just ended harmonised elections held on 30 July 2018.
Konjana, who is represented by Tarisai Mutangi of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) wants the Electoral Court to set aside ZEC’s declaration of Nduna as the duly elected Member of the National Assembly for Chegutu West constituency and declare him as the duly elected legislator for Chegutu West constituency.
In his petition, Konjana cited several irregularities and indicated that he felt cheated by the ZEC Constituency Elections Officer who granted some votes undue to Nduna.
Meanwhile, Noah Mangondo, an independent losing candidate for Murewa South constituency in Mashonaland East province has filed a petition in Electoral Court challenging the election result of the National Assembly for Murewa South constituency held last month in which Joel Biggie Matiza of ZANU PF party was declared the winner by ZEC with 10 808 votes compared to 10 653 votes allocated to Mangondo.
Mangondo wants ZEC’s declaration of Matiza as the winner of the election to be set aside and that he be declared the winner.
In his application filed by Gift Mtisi of ZLHR, Mangondo argued that the election of Matiza was a result of corrupt, illegal and intimidatory practices on the part of the ZANU PF party candidate and his agents in the constituency designed to secure his election at all cost.
Mangondo argued that all the electoral malpractices he cited in his petition did affect the result of the election in a material way to the extent that the difference is marginal.
