THE High Court will on Wednesday 31 October 2018 preside over the hearing and determination of an application filed by Alison Charles, a relative of a shooting victim of the August 2018 violence, who is challenging the lawfulness of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s conduct in appointing the Kgalema Motlanthe-led Commission of Inquiry and wants it to be declared unconstitutional and set aside.
Justice David Mangota on Wednesday 10 October 2018 set strict timelines which will see lawyers representing the applicants and the respondents filing answering affidavits by Monday 15 October 2018, applicants’ heads of argument by 18 October 2018 and respondents’ heads of argument by 24 October 2018 before the hearing of the merits of the matter on Wednesday 31 October 2018.
Charles, whose brother was shot and killed alongside six other civilians in post-election violence on 1 August 2018 and the Counselling Services Unit (CSU), who are the applicants, are challenging the lawfulness of Mnangagwa’s conduct in appointing the Motlanthe-led Commission of Inquiry and wants it to be declared unconstitutional and set aside.
The applicants want the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission or the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission to be given authority to appoint persons fit to be commissioners and to be appointed as the appropriate body to conduct investigations of the 01 August 2018 killing.
Charles and CSU also want Mnangagwa’s decision in appointing Professor Lovemore Madhuku and Professor Charity Manyeruke to be set aside and also want the Commission of Inquiry’s terms of references to be amended to include revealing the identity of the individuals who perpetrated the human rights violations and who deployed the military to the streets on 01 August 2018 among other demands.
Source: Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
