War Veterans, Ex-CCC MP Lose CAB3 Court Challenges On Technical Grounds

The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) has dismissed separate legal challenges brought by war veterans and former opposition legislator Prince Dubeko Sibanda against the controversial Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 (CAB3).

In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, 17 June, the court threw out the application filed by war veterans, who were represented by constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku. It ruled that the matter failed to meet the legal requirements necessary for the ConCourt to hear the case.

The war veterans had approached the apex court seeking to nullify the proposed amendments, arguing that the Bill was unconstitutional and designed to alter key provisions of the country’s supreme law.

The court held that the application did not satisfy the threshold required for its intervention and dismissed it.

In a separate ruling, the court also dismissed an application by former Binga North legislator Prince Dubeko Sibanda challenging the same Bill.

The court found that Sibanda’s challenge had been brought prematurely.

Speaking after the ruling, Madhuku said the court had not determined the merits of the case. Instead, it had found that the constitutional duties cited in the application were not sufficiently specific to warrant the ConCourt’s direct intervention.

“The Constitutional Court has said that although the President has the duties that we had indicated in the application, those duties are not specific enough to allow the Constitutional Court to exercise its exclusive jurisdiction,” Madhuku said.

“What this means is that the application ought to be lodged in a lower court, such as the High Court.

“The High Court can determine those issues, and then it goes up to the Constitutional Court through the normal processes of appeals and so forth.”

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