Jonathan Moyo and others lose case against Speaker of Parliament

By Violet Gonda
9 March 2010

High Court Judge Bharat Patel has dismissed with costs an application by Tsholotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo and three other legislators, who were seeking to nullify the August 2008 election of Lovemore Moyo as Speaker of Parliament.

Professor Moyo, who stood as an independent in the general elections but has now rejoined ZANU PF, said that voting for the Speaker of Parliament was not done by secret ballot and accused MDC-T MPs of influencing the vote by publically displaying their completed ballots during the election process.

The ZANU PF MP was supported in his court challenge by Moses Mzila Ndlovu, Siyabonga Ncube and Patrick Dube - legislators from the Mutambara led MDC. They maintained that the voting had been flawed and chaotic.

On Tuesday Justice Patel agreed the environment was disorderly but ruled that the election was valid saying: “It's clear that all members marked their ballot papers in secrecy and none were coerced to vote for any candidate.”

Moyo is reported to be filing an appeal in the Supreme Court against Justice Patel’s verdict. He is quoted on the New Zimbabwe website saying: “The judge said his understanding of secret ballot is the act of voting in a booth secretly, not what happens after. That, in our view, is a narrow interpretation of secret ballot ... it’s the ballot paper that must be secret, not the vote.”

“The judge agreed that a number of MPs left the ballot booth with their ballots which they openly displayed. He said Tendai Biti (Finance Minister and MDC-T Secretary General) displayed his ballot to other MPs, but described this as ‘impolitic’. We disagree, it was not impolitic but unlawful,” Moyo is quoted saying.

Lovemore Moyo became the first opposition Speaker of Parliament since independence in 1980, after the MDC-T got its first ever majority in parliament. Several legislators from the MDC-M and ZANU PF are said to have voted for the MDC-T official during the controversial election for a Speaker of Parliament.

ZANU PF did not field a candidate against Moyo, but supported the MDC-M candidate, Paul Themba Nyathi.