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Judge President George Chiweshe said yesterday.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai had filed an application to be included as a respondent in the proceedings in which President Mugabe made two urgent chamber applications seeking an extension of the March 31 by-election deadline to June 29 this year.
The President was last year ordered to set by-election dates for three constituencies — Nkayi South, Bulilima East and Lupane East — by March 31.
This followed an application by Abednico Bhebhe, Njabuliso Mguni and Norman Mpofu, all former MDC legislators for the constituencies in question.
The Prime Minister had argued that he was never consulted when President Mugabe came up with June 29 as the date by which the harmonised elections would have been held.
The Judge President said the PM had no role in the dispute after the Deputy Attorney General Advocate Prince Machaya said they were abandoning their application for an interim relief and doing away with references made in their application concerning harmonised elections.
Dep AG Machaya said they would now seek a final order doing away with insinuations of the harmonised elections, prompting Mr Tsvangirai’s lawyer Mr Chris Mhike to concede that the PM’s application would fall away as there was a possible amicable way of solving the matter with President Mugabe.
He, however, said he would consult Mr Tsvangirai on the matter.
Judge President Chiweshe, however, said; “The Prime Minister has no role to play even if you consult it will not sway the court . . . But if it was harmonised elections then he has a role to play,” he said.
EARLIER
The Judge President also told the parties that he cannot set dates for harmonised or by-elections, adding that the issue should be on whether Parliament is dissolved by June 29 or October 29.
Advocate Thabani Mpofu, who is representing the deposed, all former MDC legislators, for the constituencies in question said according to the Constitution, Parliament would be dissolved on October 29 while Dep AG Adv Machaya said it should be dissolved by June 29.
Judge President Chiweshe said if Parliament ends in June it is not feasible to hold by-elections but it can be possible if it ends in October.
The two parties would today argue on the lifespan of Parliament while Mr Mhike would attend as a friend of the court after the Judge President accepted his request.
President Mugabe made two urgent chamber applications seeking an extension of the March 31 by-election deadline to June 29 this year.
In the applications, President Mugabe argued that the idea of holding by-elections and a few months later hold harmonised elections did not make economic and/or practical sense.
In the other application, the Zimbabwe National Youth Service Graduates’ Association obtained a High Court order compelling the President to set dates for by-elections to be held in all vacant constituencies countrywide.
However, President Mugabe seeks to be excused from complying with the March 31 deadline provided harmonised elections would be held shortly.
Bhebhe, Mguni and Mpofu filed their notice of opposition through the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights in which they challenged the High Court’s jurisdiction over the application.
They argued that the court had no power to condone or suborn disobedience of its own order.
Online Reporter