FORMER Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday scored a victory against the Renewal Team lead by former Finance minister Tendai Biti after the High Court stopped his intended appearance before a disciplinary hearing meant to expel him from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.
SENIOR COURT REPORTER
The MDC-T president was recently summoned by Biti’s faction called the MDC Renewal Team to appear before a disciplinary committee facing 17 counts of violating the party’s constitution.
Biti and his lieutenants suspended Tsvangirai and five other MDC-T officials in March, accusing them of using violence as a political tool and in retaliation, Tsvangirai fired Biti and those that endorsed his suspension.
The party’s national chairman Lovemore Moyo was also summoned to attend the same disciplinary hearing on charges including alleged failure to conduct free and fair primary elections before last year’s harmonised polls.
However, while delivering judgment in his chambers yesterday, High Court judge Justice Happious Zhou granted an interdict effectively barring Biti, Elton Mangoma, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo and Sekai Holland from proceeding with any intended disciplinary hearing against Tsvangirai and his party.
“The respondents have not filed opposing papers to the effect that the factual averments contained in the founding affidavit are unchallenged. Lovemore Madhuku for the respondents acknowledged that position and submitted that reliance will be placed on the legal issues to oppose the application,” Justice Zhou said.
“Pending determination of this matter, the respondents or any person claiming through them or acting on their instruction be and are hereby interdicted from proceeding with any disciplinary proceedings against the 3rd applicant or any other office bearer of the second respondent on 27 June 2014 or some other day pursuant to resolutions of a meeting held at Mandel Training Centre on 26 April, 2014.”
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MDC-T’s spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora hailed the outcome saying the intended hearing was illegal.
“We are very happy because dragging Tsvangirai to a hearing of another political party was illegal and unfair anyway. The meeting at Mandel was a fake anyway and the court’s ruling has demonstrated that and has proven that we are right,” Mwonzora said.
MDC Renewal Team’s spokesperson Jacob Mafume told journalists that they had not been served with the judgment and as far as they were concerned it did not apply to the issue of the suspensions.
“The two (Tsvangirai and Moyo) did not pitch up and they didn’t explain the reasons, so the hearing proceeded because they were in default. We prosecuted our case to the fullest,” he said.
Mafume said the order that had been sought was not meant to nullify the Mandel resolutions, but to stop the disciplinary hearing so the suspensions remained in place.
