adminindicated that it would not oppose the application arguing that it was in agreement with Fongo president Mr Goodson Nguni on the matter.
MDC-T MPs led by Copac co-chairperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora filed opposing papers on Friday.
The MDC legislators were not part of the litigation but had concurred with the MDC-T that the relief sought by Fongo was untenable.
Mr Nguni has, however, said he would challenge the filing of notice of opposition by the MDC-T on the basis that it was improperly before the court as Copac is constituted by three political parties.
Zanu-PF co-chairperson Cde Munyaradzi Mangwana, yesterday insisted his party would not oppose the application because they wanted the national report to be published.
Cde Mangwana, however, said he was not aware of the MDC-T’s response to the application. “Our position has not yet changed as Zanu-PF. If anyone is to respond to the court application they would only do so as individuals,” said Cde Mangwana. “They do not have the right to represent Copac because it is driven by consensus.”
In their response, the MDC-T legislators are being represented by Majome and Gonese law firm.
Mr Innocent Gonese, an MDC-T legislator and lawyer confirmed filing their responses to the application.
But Mr Nguni said it was improper for the legislators to file a response excluding other members of Copac.
“Copac is constituted by three political parties and it is very clear that there is no consensus in Copac to oppose the application. I will certainly challenge that because they do not have the legitimacy to file papers,” said Mr Nguni.
Mr Nguni castigated the MDC-T for objecting to the publication of the national report. “If they have nothing to hide why are they afraid to publish it?” he asked.
In its meeting last week, Copac failed to agree on the litigation as Zanu-PF did not want to oppose it while the two MDC formations wanted the organ to file a notice of opposition before the court.
Last week, Mr Mwonzora said they were of the view that they should oppose the application because it was “unreasonable”. He said in his application, Mr Nguni wants Copac to publish the national report in 20 newspapers in all languages within 10 days failure of which the second stakeholder conference should not be held.
“We interpreted it as a ploy to delay the conference. We have never hidden the national data. If we are to publish it in the manner he wants us to do, it would cost us US$500 000. That is unreasonable and unacceptable, so we will oppose it,” said Mr Mwonzora.
But Cde Mangwana dismissed the contention made by Mr Mwonzora saying it would cost Copac not more than US$50 000 to publish the national report not US$500 000.
“If we were able to fund an outreach programme, why would it be expensive to us to publish the people’s views. As Zanu-PF, we are a people’s party, we can’t oppose an application which is in the best interest of the people,” said Cde Mangwana.
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