"Political Contestations Matter More Than Judicial Proceedings," ED-Chamisa Case

The director of the Harare-based Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI), Pedzisai Ruhanya, has said that it is imperative to understand the political culture in Zimbabwe for one to fully appreciate the Constitutional Court judgment in the 2018 presidential elections challenge case.

Ruhanya said that usually, politics has supremacy over the law, therefore, overreliance on legal positivism, a philosophy of law that emphasizes that law is socially constructed opposed to natural law, is dangerous since that does not work. He added:

In many respects, judgement of the ConCourt falls in my larger and broader argument that the leadership of a country, political parties are not matters for the judiciary to determine but largely a political matter. POLITICAL CONTESTATIONS matter more than judicial proceedings!

The Constitutional Court was ruling on a matter which came into being after opposition MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa filed an application seeking the nullification of ZEC’s 2018 presidential elections results saying they had been tampered with.

His remarks come when some analysts have claimed that the judiciary system in the country is captured by the ruling ZANU PF.

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