Supreme Court Clears 12 CCC Candidates To Contest 2023 Elections

The Supreme Court has granted the appeal of 12 Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) parliamentary candidates, clearing them to contest in the upcoming general election scheduled for August 23.

The party made the announcement in a Twitter post seen by Pindula News noting that the case was triggered by ZANU PF. Read the post:

Our 12 Bulawayo MPs are back on the ballot box. This was a desperate attempt by Zanu PF to smuggle their unelectable members into parliament. Bulawayo is an integral part of the election process and cannot be ignored.

The candidates were disqualified for submitting their nomination papers to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) through a third party, a police officer, in violation of the Electoral Act. In his ruling, Justice Bongani Ndlovu had declared that the separation of the papers from the CCC candidates through the medium of the police officer to be unlawful. He further noted that the Electoral Act requires the candidate or their agent to be present in court and ready to submit their papers at 4 pm, rather than just the papers being present.

CCC candidates had given their nomination papers to the police officer following the instruction of the ZEC nomination officer for Bulawayo, Mr I. Ncube. ZEC officials have claimed that Ncube instructed the police officer to collect the papers shortly before 4 pm, as the courtroom was about to close and was too small to accommodate all candidates who were queueing to submit their papers. The Supreme Court’s decision clears the way for the CCC candidates to participate in the election.

The ruling may have an implication on the case of Industry and Commerce Deputy Minister Raj Modi, a ZANU PF member, in which a voter applied to have him disqualified.

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