HIGH Court judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu yesterday dismissed election petitions filed by MDC-T losing parliamentary candidates for Marondera East and Hurungwe constituencies saying the applications were not in conformity with the format laid down in the Electoral Court rules.
SENIOR COURT REPORTER
MDC-T’s Tracy Mutinhiri and Wilson Makanyange had petitioned the court seeking nullification of the results citing electoral irregularities in the July 31 polls.
However, Justice Bhunu upheld the election of Zanu PF candidates Jeremiah Chiwetu and Temba Mliswa and declared them duly elected Members of Parliament for Marondera East and Hurungwe West constituencies, respectively.
He said the rules required that once a petitioner named a person as having engaged in corrupt or illegal practices, he would be obliged to give the full name and address of the person guilty of such conduct and serve a copy on the person to enable him/her to respond.
“In the final analysis, it is accordingly ordered that both electoral petitions filed by the petitioners are a nullity, void and of no force or effect,” Justice Bhunu said before he dismissed the applications with costs.
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The court said although Mutinhiri and Makanyange accused various unidentified chiefs, headmen and other traditional leaders, they did not give their full names and addresses thereby rendering their petitions invalid.
“Misinterpreting the law is, however, no excuse for not complying with the law, for ignorance of the law is no excuse,” Justice Bhunu said.
Several petitions by losing MDC-T candidates have been thrown out over the past weeks for failing to meet the legal requirements.