Court has no jurisdiction

are suing President Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai over the appointment of eight Cabinet ministers because it is a political rather than legal matter, a Harare lawyer has said.
Advocate Lewis Uriri, who is representing the President and PM Tsvangirai in the civil lawsuit brought by Mr Moven Kufa and the Voice of Democracy Trust, said this in his submissions to Judge President Justice George Chiweshe at the High Court in Harare yesterday.
Mr Kufa and VDT are contesting the appointment of eight cabinet ministers – five from Zanu-PF and three from MDC-T.
They claim that the appointments of Zanu-PF’s Saviour Kasukuwere, Joseph Made, Walter Mzembi, Flora Bhuka, Sylvester Nguni (Zanu-PF), and MDC-T’s Henry Madzorera, Sekai Holland and Giles Mutsekwa breached the Constitution.
Mr Kufa and VDT want the court to nullify the appointments saying Schedule 8 of the Constitution allows only 31 ministers, with 15 nominated by Zanu-PF and 13 by the MDC and three by MDC-M.
The parties appointed 21 from Zanu-PF, 16 from MDC-T and four from MDC-M.
Adv Uriri, instructed by the Attorney-General’s Civil Division submitted: “The question for the court to determine was the question of jurisdiction to hear and determine what is a political question.”
He said what was before the court was a “political” and not a “legal” question.
“It should be noted that the inter-party political agreement contains its own dispute resolution mechanism which also affects Article 20 thereof, which Article was incorporated into the Constitution under Schedule 8,” Adv Uriri said.
He said the “political question” doctrine has received more pronounced expression in countries such as the United States.
“It is submitted that the doctrine has much to commend it as courts should be extremely wary of getting involved in issues of a purely political nature.
“It is for the courts themselves, however, to determine whether an issue raises a political question or not. The doctrine does not, however, appear to have been adopted in our law, but there seems to be no reason why it should not,” Adv Uriri said.
He said Parliament was legislating a political settlement rather than a legal scenario. However, Adv David Ochieng – representing Mr Kufa and VDT – argued that this was purely a legal matter and not political.
“This is a matter within jurisdiction of the court,” Adv Ochieng submitted.
Justice Chiweshe will make a determination on April 5. – HR.