The Constitutional Court has rejected independent presidential candidate Saviour Kasukuwere’s bid to contest the August 23 harmonised elections. The court ruled that Mr Kasukuwere’s application for direct access to argue against a Supreme Court ruling, which validated the High Court decision disqualifying him from contesting the elections, was simply a disguised appeal against a decision of the superior court.
The court judges unanimously agreed that the application was a disguised appeal and therefore dismissed it. According to Zimbabwean law, the Constitutional Court is not a court of final appeal, and its function is to decide constitutional issues and cases.
Mr Kasukuwere had his nomination accepted by the Nomination Court, but this was challenged in the High Court resulting in him being disqualified from contesting the election on the grounds that he was no longer on the voters roll.
The Supreme Court endorsed the High Court’s decision that he could not stand for President since he was absent from Zimbabwe for more than 18 months and was not covered by one of the accepted reasons such as prolonged medical attention or State service.
This meant that any approach to the Constitutional Court had to be based on an argument that at least one of the two legal provisions in the Electoral Act violated his constitutional rights and so could not be applied. However, the Constitutional Court found that his approach was just an attempt to appeal the unappealable decision of the Supreme Court.
