by Brightface Mutema
ZANU PF legal team led by Advocate Paul Mangwana today filed their opposing papers at the Constitutional Court, challenging the MDC Alliance leader’s court application to nullify the July 30 presidential election results.
Nelson Chamisa is seeking the nullification of the presidential results claiming a number of irregularities before, during and after the elections. Instead, he is seeking to be declared the winner after claiming to have won by around 60% of the vote.
However the ZANU PF legal team is upbeat that they will leave Chamisa and his legal team with egg on their faces. Mangwana, while speaking to an independent journalist, Violet Gonda at the Constitutional Court on 15 August 2018, claimed that they had gone through the petition by Chamisa and are cock sure that they have sufficient arsenal to fight it in court.
Speaking after submitting their opposing papers this morning, Mangwana said, “ZANU PF is ready for this presidential election challenge. The MDC Alliance is going to eat humble pie. MDC Alliance application is not based on facts and does not comply with the rules of the courts.”
The argument had been that the ZANU PF legal team wants to have the matter dismissed on technicality after it was filed outside the stipulated court dates. On the other hand Chamisa legal team and other lawyers are claiming that the Constitutional Court days do not include weekends and public holidays. If so that means the stipulated seven days for filing the petition lapse on the 16th of August.
Be that as it may, the ZANU PF ‘Dream Team’ claims that even if the matter is heard on merit and not on that technicality, they still have enough proof to shoot down Chamisa in court.
