While saying the Electoral Court is the only one with powers to correct errors, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Zec, has claimed that only the state President has election proclamation powers.

ZEC was speaking over the case of MDC candidate Gift Konjana who applied to the courts to restore his 2018 won seat, having lost the case over a technicality.

In September, Supreme Court judge Justice Bharat Patel said the case could not be heard because it had exceeded the time limit stipulated for the Electoral Court despite admitting that Konjana’s appeal had merit.

During a stakeholder meeting in Chinhoyi last week, Zec said it was imperative for it to be legally empowered to resolve such disputes.

The meeting was attended by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, Zanu PF, MDC Alliance and MDC-T officials, among other opposition parties and civic groups.

“Zec can only implement its constitutional mandate; election proclamation is vested in the Executive.

“Zec seeks to have the decree and power to correct errors that may occur during the election period rather than to wait for courts to decide (citing the Chegutu West saga where Dexter Nduna was declared winner on account of human error),” the ZEC update on the meeting read.

“An encouragement was made to all stakeholders to lobby for recommendations to be pushed through the Legislature.” – Newsday/additional reporting