The registrar of the Constitutional Court has refused to accept some of the legal documents which lawyers for Nelson Chamisa attempted to file on the 15th of August. According to the registrar, the reason why the documents were rejected was the expiry of dies induciae ( the number of days that a party in a legal proceeding has to file documents). The letter from the registrar reads,
15 August 2018
Atherstone and Cook
Applicant’s Legal Practitioners
Praetor House
119 J Chinamano Avenue
HarareRE: ATTEMPTED FILING OF DOCUMENTS AFTER EXPIRY OF DIES INDUCIAE
Reference is made to the above matter.
There are documents that were left at the Registry by Advocate Hashiti on 15 August 2018 which documents were not issued by the Registrar.
After consultation with the Chief Justice, a decision was made that these documents could not be accepted.
Please kindly come and collect your documents. After our numerous phone calls to Advocate Hashiti, he indicated that he would send someone to collect them and he still has not done so.
REGISTRAR – CONSTITUTIONAL/SUPREME COURT
cc – Chief Justice
The Court will on Wednesday hear Nelson Chamisa’s petition in which he wants the results of the election to be overturned alleging that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) manipulated the results in order to guarantee a win for President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
In issues of this nature, there mustn’t be deadlines for refusal of acceptance of documents but just to speed up the process only.