• The Supreme Court in Zimbabwe overturned an election ban on 12 CCC candidates.
• A CCC spokesperson urged citizens to ensure a big win for the opposition.
• Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube will face off against the CCC’s Pashor Raphael Sibanda.

The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in Zimbabwe said the ruling Zanu-PF had failed to “smuggle its unelectable members” into Parliament after the opposition won a court appeal.

Twelve CCC parliamentary candidates had been barred from contesting after registered voters, linked to Zanu-PF, argued the candidates had submitted their nomination papers after the 16:00 deadline on 21 June.

During court proceedings, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said the CCC members had submitted on time.

But High Court Judge Bongani Ndlovu ruled against the CCC.

A last-minute court challenge has now reversed the ruling.

In a statement, the CCC said Zanu-PF had failed to steal the Bulawayo vote.

“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 party said.

Fadzayi Mahere, the CCC spokesperson, said the party was eying an electoral victory.

“We are going to speak decisively on the 23rd (August). To the citizens, we say thank you very much for rallying behind these 12 candidates. Let’s continue to campaign very hard, so that we can secure a big win for the citizens. A big win for CCC is a big win for Zimbabwe,” she said.

Independent presidential candidate, Saviour Kasukuwere, also has a case before the courts.

A Zanu-PF activist, Lovedale Mangwana, filed at the high court to challenge Kasukuwere’s eligibility to run for the presidency on grounds that he had been out of the country for 18 months.

The matter is now before the Constitutional Court.

Campaigning 

Pashor Raphael Sibanda, who is the CCC candidate for Cowdray Park, will face off against Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube.

He told News24: “We never stopped campaigning – so, to us, as we have always said, this was a sideshow meant to disturb us.”

He bemoaned what most critics have come to call “judiciary capture” in Zimbabwe.

“The courts have always been captured. We have a lot of cases as examples. This case, on its own, wasn’t even supposed to reach Supreme Court level, it was not even supposed to reach the high court,” he said.

Descent Collins Bajila, CCC’s candidate for Luveve-Emakhandeni, will run against Zanu-PF’s Brian Samuriwo.