Senior Judge Luke Malaba has “swallowed his finger” over the case which is challenging the legality of Presidential powers in Constitution Of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.1) Act.
Malaba together with other judges reserved judgment in the matter in which MDC-T MPs are challenging the act, which gives the President sole powers to appoint the Chief Justice, his deputy and the Judge president.
MDC-T chief whip Innocent Gonese and Harare West MP Jessie Majome argued that when the process was done, the National Assembly and Senate were not fully constituted.
“Judgment will be reserved in this matter,” said Chief Justice Malaba.
Advocates Lewis Uriri, Wilbert Mandinde and Takawira Nzombe, all from the Temple Bar Inns of Court, represented Parliament.
The legislators argued that Parliament did not follow the correct procedures in passing the Bill.
It was argued that Parliament failed to comply with the constitutional obligation defined in Section 328(5) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which requires a Constitutional Bill to be passed by two-thirds of the membership of both Senate and National Assembly, sitting separately.
They also argued that no vote was conducted as required by the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
The MDC-T chief whip further argued that some legislators who did not attend the sessions were counted as being present.
They argued that some were even out of the country and they have since filed affidavits confirming that they were not in the House on the day the voting process was done.
They argued that the common practice, where Parliament tellers would move around with the chief whips acting as election observers for transparency’s sake, was disregarded in favour of counting of each party’s sitting arrangement.
Parliament argued that it was not a corporate body that is capable of being sued in its own name, hence the application was defective.
It was argued that the events of the day in question show that voting indeed took place and that it was conducted in a transparent manner.
Parliament’s lawyers argued that the legislators’ application lacked merit and urged the Constitutional Court to dismiss it. – state media/ additional reporting