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to be held on July 31 and is already preparing a war chest for post-poll litigation. This is contained in the party’s “Strategic Election Litigation” document drawn with the assistance of 15 lawyers who met in the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Boardroom on June 3 to brainstorm frivolous applications with a view to subverting the implementation of the Constitutional Court ruling that harmonised elections be held by July 31.
An official in the Prime Minister’s Office, Ms Rose Hanzi made the revelations in response to a query from Mr Chris Mhike of Atherstone and Cook – who chaired the meeting – who wanted to know if the MDC-T had funds to bankroll the Election Litigation Strategy calculated to increase the workload of the Constitutional Court in the hope of embarrassing it if it failed to deal with the applications in time.
This, analysts said, was designed to make the judiciary part of the MDC-T’s reform agenda.
Ms Hanzi, who was taking minutes of the meeting, said the Prime Minister’s office had money set aside for the litigation crusade but wanted the lawyers to moderate their fees to save money for post-poll litigation.
“TB (Tendai Biti) advised they did not have funds and RH (Rose Hanzi) confirmed that funding was available but costs had to be reasonable as funds were limited to cater for potential electoral litigation that will occur later such as petitions,” reads the minutes of the meeting.
“She (Ms Hanzi) further stated that there may be negotiations on fees and ZLHR will identify specific lawyers and law firms to deal with the cases and there may be a need for other lawyers to assist here and there on a pro bono basis as part of their constitutional obligation.”
The revelations dovetail with President Mugabe’s observation that the MDC-T’s demands for reforms before elections arise from fear of defeat and an attempt to delay the inevitable.
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In an interview at Maputo International Airport just before his departure for Harare from the extra-ordinary summit of Sadc heads of state and government over the weekend, President Mugabe rapped the MDC formations for employing all manner of tricks in a bid to delay elections.
“The other parties do not want elections, they are afraid of elections; they know they are going to lose and it’s a sure case that they are going to lose,’’ President Mugabe said.
“These past five years have exposed all of us and exposed us in terms of what we are. Our sense of honesty or lack of it, our purposefulness or lack of it, and naturally the serious intent with which we have to govern.”
Several recent surveys from the likes of Mass Public Opinion Institute, Freedom House and Afro barometer have pointed to a Zanu-PF victory in the harmonised elections with the latest opinion coming from the leading US think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations that said the prospect of a Zanu-PF loss at the polls was highly unlikely.
Voting patterns in the Constitutional referendum held mid-March revealed that Zanu-PF strongholds drove the Yes Vote, a development affirmed by statistics released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission that showed high voter registration in Zanu-PF strongholds coupled with low figures in urban and peri-urban areas from where the MDC-T drew support over the years.
The MDC-T acknowledged the voter apathy in its election strategy document titled ‘Priority Activities ahead of 2013 Election’.
Online Reporter