Magaisa rubbishes President Mnangagwa’s immunity defence

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“1. I have seen Mnangagwa’s response to Musengezi’s challenge regarding his legitimacy as ZANU PF leader. It seems to me that the question of presidential immunity which he is raising is a sideshow that does not affect the core case. The case does not stand/fall on his immunity.

“2. Musengezi sued ZANU PF, Mnangagwa & other party officers. Let’s assume for a moment that Mnangagwa’s immunity defence is valid, it doesn’t apply to ZANU PF & the other parties. They must answer the law suit & the must decide whether their conduct was lawful.

“3. The outcome will still be consequential upon Mnangagwa. Musengezi is relying on the Mashavira case against the MDC-T. Just like Mashavira, Musengezi sued the party & its officers. The Mashavira court directed party officers to correct past irregularities of the party.

“4. Likewise the decision that the court makes in the Musengezi case must primarily focus on the conduct of the party at the relevant time and if it finds that there were irregularities, it should order the party’s officers to carry out their mandates to correct the irregularities.

“5. They will have a hard time distinguishing the Musengezi case from the Mashavira precedent without looking silly and partial. Mashavira waited years before making his challenge & the court allowed him.

“6. The court allowed Mashavira although he had not exhausted internal remedies in the MDC-T, ignoring the Bhasikiti precedent. It cannot now turn around and say Musengezi should have exhausted internal remedies in ZANU PF before approaching the courts without sounding stupid.”

–-Alex Magaisa is a respected law lecturer at UK’s Kent University