Former Mwenezi East Member of Parliament Kudakwashe Bhasikiti’s case in which he was challenging his expulsion from the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front was yesterday thrown out after Judge Chinembiri Bhunu ruled that Bhasikiti had jumped the gun and should have approached the party’s central committee to appeal against his expulsion instead of approaching the court.
Bhasikiti’s lawyer, Tendai Biti, has indicated that he will take the case to the Constitutional Court.
Bhasikiti is one of a dozen senior officials of ZANU-PF who were expelled from the party over allegations that they belonged to a faction that wanted to topple President Robert Mugabe.
“I come to the conclusion that the applicant has prematurely approached this court before exhausting his domestic remedies at disposal,” Judge Bhunu said according to The Herald. “When the applicant joined ZANU-PF, he freely and voluntarily elected to be bound by its constitution. He, therefore, stands fully bound by the party constitution until he has exhausted the remedies provided in that constitution.
“The exhaustion of remedies before approaching the court is a well-known administrative law principle. The mischief behind the principle is to avoid clogging the courts with matters that can be resolved in-house at shop level without the involvement of strangers. This court has said time without number that there is need to exhaust domestic remedies before approaching the courts.”
Bhasikiti’s case has shut the door for the other 11 who were expelled from the party as this means they have to appeal to the central committee rather than go to court.
President Mugabe has already set 19 September as the date for the bye-elections for Mwenezi East, Mbire and Marondera Central which became vacant after the expulsion of Bhasikiti, David Butau and Ray Kaukonde.
Nomination day was set for 20 July.
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