Ex-Mugabe allies sue over party expulsion
Former ruling Zanu-PF party secretary for administration, Mr Didymus Mutasa at a past party event. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
- The 91 year-old leader went on to fire 10 more Cabinet ministers accusing them of fighting on the ouster vice-president’s corner.
- The former minister said the “lawlessness of the congress resulted in a clear breach of his right and others to equal protection of the law as guaranteed by Section 56 (1) of the Constitution”.
- He said both the Zanu PF congress and politburo had no authority to expel anyone from the party without due process.
HARARE, Wednesday
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has been dragged to court by two former close associates challenging a ruling party congress that elevated his wife to an influential position.
Former Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and the party’s former spokesperson Rugare Gumbo yesterday filed High Court papers challenging their expulsion in a mass purge that also claimed the scalp of former Vice-President Joice Mujuru last December.
The court case is expected to divide the ruling party as the two officials insist they are the legitimate leaders of the party while President Mugabe and his new line-up are in office illegaly.
The two long time lieutenants of the veteran ruler were accused of plotting to kill President Mugabe so that Ms Mujuru can take over at the controversial congress.
In their court papers, Mr Mutasa (pictured) and Mr Gumbo said they were seeking to challenge the “unlawfulness and unconstitutionality of certain appointments and decisions that were made and of certain constitutional amendments that were made during the party’s congress”.
The congress elevated First Lady Grace Mugabe to lead the Zanu PF women’s league, giving her a seat in the party’s top decision making body – the politburo. President Mugabe’s wife pushed for Ms Mujuru’s ouster soon after entering politics and her husband obliged at the eventful congress.
ACCUSED OF PLOTTING
The 91 year-old leader went on to fire 10 more Cabinet ministers accusing them of fighting on the ouster vice-president’s corner.
Mr Gumbo and Mr Mutasa want the High Court to declare the congress illegal and reverse the dismissal of party officials. “The Constitution of Zimbabwe respects the right to human dignity in terms of Section 51 of the same,” Mr Mutasa said in his founding affidavit.
The former minister said the “lawlessness of the congress resulted in a clear breach of his right and others to equal protection of the law as guaranteed by Section 56 (1) of the Constitution”.
He said both the Zanu PF congress and politburo had no authority to expel anyone from the party without due process.
“The state of siege, intimidation, hate speech and unlawful media campaign unleashed against the so-called Mujuru camp resulted in a totally unfree, unfair and illegitimate congress,’’ he says.
and pre-congress processes,” Mr Mutasa added.
