On Monday, National Council of Chiefs (NCC) President Fortune Charumbira filed an emergency application at the High Court opposing a ruling directing him to issue an apology for urging other chiefs to support Zanu-PF in the July 30 elections.
Two weeks ago, Charumbira was ordered to retract his statements in seven days but failed to do so and is now seeking reversal of the judgment. He cited the Election Resource Centre (ERC) as the respondent.
The ruling being challenged by Charumbira was handed down in default, after he failed to file opposing papers. He argues that he was unable to file opposing papers because he was out of the country when papers were saved. Said Charumbira:
The reasons for the failure to oppose the court application in the principal proceedings are the following: I am not sure as to what exact date the papers in the principal proceedings were served on me. However, during the period when the papers were served, owing to my duties as the president of the second applicant (NCC) and as a member of Parliament of Zimbabwe, I was in and out of the country. As a result, I was not able to attend to the filing of opposing papers in good time.
More: Daily News
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