THE High Court on Wednesday 14 February 2018 nullified the directive issued by Primary and Secondary Education Minister Paul Mavima ordering Ordinary Level students to re-write the English Language Paper 2 examination.
Mavima had on 08 February 2018 ordered some candidates who sat for the Ordinary Level English Language Paper 2 examination to retake the examination on Friday 16 February 2018 alleging that there had been incidents of widespread cheating and invalidated the results for the Ordinary Level English Language Paper 2.
But the High Court on Wednesday 14 February 2018 ruled that students will not re-write the Ordinary Level English Language Paper 2 examination as had been ordered by Mavima.
Justices Loice Matanda-Moyo and Nyaradzo Munangati-Manongwa ordered that students who sat for Ordinary Level English Language Paper 2 examination will now be graded according to the results of the Ordinary Level English Language Paper 1 examination, which they wrote last year.
The ruling by the High Court judges comes after two parents, who were represented by a team of lawyers from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and Justice for Children and ZLHR member lawyer, Denford Halimani petitioned the High Court on Friday 09 February 2018 seeking an order to set aside Mavima’s directive nullifying the results of the Ordinary Level English Language Paper 2 examination. In their application, the parents Victor Mukomeka and Chingasiyeni Govhati had argued that Mavima’s directive was irrational and unreasonable.
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court on Wednesday 14 February 2018 postponed to Wednesday 14 March 2018 the hearing of an application filed by three Zimbabweans challenging some restrictive provisions of the Electoral Act, which prevent Zimbabwean citizens living outside the country from participating in the country’s electoral processes. The Constitutional Court postponed the hearing of the application to enable lawyers representing the applicants to attend to consolidating the court record.
The applicants, who are represented by ZLHR and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), are seeking an order to compel the respondents, who include the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) among other respondents, to facilitate the amendment of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13) and put appropriate measures so as to enable Zimbabweans living and working abroad to participate in the country’s electoral processes.
Source: Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
