Saviour Kasukuwere, a former cabinet member in Zimbabwe who is running for the country’s presidential seat has challenged SADC to keep a close eye on Zimbabwe elections.
Kasukuwere has since written to the SADC Troika Organ on Politics Defence and Security to look at the political climate and electoral processes in Zimbabwe ahead of the country’s August 23rd, 2023 elections.
The move comes after the High Court and Supreme Court in Zimbabwe barred him from running for the presidency of the country.
The former minister of late President Robert Mugabe’s administration who was exiled, now also has his eyes on the Constitutional court to reverse the decision of the Supreme Court.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party activist Lovedale Mangwana approached the High Court challenging the nomination of Kasukuwere to stand for Presidency in the August 23rd, 2023 elections, saying the Nomination Court violated the Constitution in accepting his nomination papers.
Mangwana claims that the Nomination Court approved Kasukuwere’s candidature despite the fact that he had been away from his own constituency for more than 18 months. The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe erred in upholding the High Court judgment nullifying Kasukuwere’s nomination.
Kasukuwere who is in Botswana with his campaign team this week, told the media that his legal team has launched an application with the Constitutional court.
The team has also launched an urgent application against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission ( ZEC) from proceeding with printing and dispatching the ballots pending the outcome of the constitutional court case.
He said ZEC has already run out of time to hold credible elections. He revealed that timelines as defined by the laws have been missed. Kasukuwere indicated that ballots must have been dispatched 40 days before elections to relevant individuals who have interest in participating in the elections.
He argued that this is an operational flaw.
Source: https://www.news24.com/news24/africa/news/zim-elections-kasukuwere-suffers-constitutional-setback-but-vows-to-fight-on-20230808
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