19:01
Thembinkosi Magwaliba, representing Mnangagwa, dismissed claims that the opposition had produced any evidence of fraud.
“This application was not seriously done. The applicant is clearly flippant,” he said.
“In the final analysis it is correct to submit that the allegations… have not been established.”
Nine judges, led by Chief Justice Luke Malaba, are hearing the case in Harare, where the court premises were given high security. – AFP
19:00
WRAP:
Zimbabwe’s opposition argued in the country’s top court on Wednesday that the presidential election results must be thrown out, alleging that only “massive doctoring” of the vote had kept Emmerson Mnangagwa in office.
Lawyers for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) launched a blistering attack on Mnangagwa, the ruling Zanu-PF party and the election commission over the July 30 ballot – Zimbabwe’s first election since the ousting of Robert Mugabe last year.
“There is a massive cover-up. There has been a massive doctoring of evidence,” Thabani Mpofu, representing the MDC, told the court.
Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s former ally, won the election with 50.8% of the vote – just enough to meet the 50% threshold needed to avoid a run-off against MDC leader Nelson Chamisa, who scored 44.3%.
“There were at least 16 polling stations with identical results – identical results for Chamisa, identical results for Mnangagwa. It is like a kid who was playing with the figures,” said Mpofu.
He argued that irregularities wiped out the narrow margin by which Mnangagwa had avoided a second-round vote.
“A run-off is unavoidable. For now, the election must be set aside,” Mpofu said, adding that “we have a false ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission). We have a lying ZEC.” – AFP
18:58
This marks the end of the live updates from the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe
18:58
The court reserves judgement to 14:00 on August 24, 2018
18:56
Mpofu is told by the Chief Justice that his time is up
18:56
The validity of the election must be set aside by ZEC’s own admission that it is not sure of the figures that the first respondent garnered
18:54
If Mnangagwa claims to have won the election he should give us the figure, says Mpofu
18:52
ZEC has not denied that unaccounted votes came from non existent polling stations, says Mpofu
18:51
Mpofu: The results announced in Mbire and Rushinga do not tally and some 40 000 parliamentary votes are not accounted for
18:48
Mpofu: ZEC changed its results before any application was brought before the court and also changed the results after the application has been filed, therefore, it cannot be said to be true that ZEC changed its results in response to the election.
The law requires that results to be announced should be final. Results that were changed three times in two weeks cannot be said to reflect a credible election
18:45
Mpofu says the lodging of the application was done on time and the sheriff was given papers on time to serve the respondents
18:42
We rely clearly on the analysis of the expert so the first respondent to say the expert only knows about fish when Dr Outumba gave evidence in the Raila Odinga court case is totally unacceptable, says Mpofu
18:40
The number of teachers referred to were by unions who approached the courts and got an order so the number can be accounted for, says Mpofu.
18:34
ZEC must be satisfied that there is a winning candidate so it must be satisfied that there is candidate who has 50% plus one vote to be declared winner, says Mpofu
18:31
The application has taken ZEC figures and voters roll and shown the inaccuracy of the results announced, says Mpofu
18:30
There is a mathematical challenge and when ZEC starts revising its own figures the presumption of irregularities fall away and become fact that results are not genuine therefore the result must be set aside
18:27
Mpofu says Mnangagwa is so scared to deal with the applicant’s case
18:26
Advocate Thabani Mpofu says he wants 20 minutes to reply
18:25
Chamisa’s attorney now replying
18:21
Asked by judge Rita Makarau why there is a difference between presidential and parliamentary votes cast, Kanengoni says voters are not obliged to vote in all elections for the president, member of parliament and councilor
18:20
Kanengoni says all the V11 forms were signed by all the party agents at the respective polling stations
18:17
Kanengoni replies that it did happen but they only took two samples that are backed by V11 forms
18:17
But judge Chiweshe says they were 16 as alluded to by Chamisa’s attorney
18:15
Kanengoni admits that there were similar returns at two polling stations but argues that the stations are in different areas
18:08
The first respondent won the application, says Kanengoni. The applicant did not ask for a recount within the stipulated and we have to rely on figures released by the ZEC
18:07
Kanengoni replies that upon receipt of the data, ZEC subjected the data to analysis and recorded a variance of 0.1% and that does not change the result of the election
18:05
The Chief Justice asks why the ZEC abandoned figures that it initially announced
18:01
No police officer has come before the court with an affidavit to say that I was disenfranchised of my right to vote through postal voting, adds Kanengoni
Mnangagwa’s lawyer says MDC has made ‘bold but unsubstantiated’ allegations
17:59
The wearing of the scarf by the electoral commission chief way before the sitting of the nomination court cannot be used as evidence to say that there was bias on the part of the electoral commission chief, says Kanengoni
17:56
“The commission has not been changing the results of the election. A proper analysis of the election cannot be done through samples but can only be made through real data therefore the election result should not be overturned because there is no basis to do that,” says Kanengoni
17:54
There is only a variance of 0.1% of the results announced and that does not change the validity of the elections, says Kanengoni.
17:53
The allegation that there were many assisted voters is not linked in any way to the result of the election. In any case ZEC’s role was only to facilitate that everyone cast his or her vote, says Kanengoni
17:46
The V11 forms were also signed by all polling agents including MDC Alliance agents, says Kanengoni
17:40
Kanengoni: We have put the complete V11 form as opposed to what the applicant says was an incomplete V11
17:38
Kanengoni: The affidavit of Joseph Madzudzo that alleges that there was forging of figures on V11s was dealt with in papers before the court as opposed to what the applicant’s lawyers said in their submissions.
17:34
Kanengoni: The applicant did not provide the V11 forms which is the primary data. The onus is on the applicant to prove any over voting in order to debunk what was announced by ZEC
17:33
Kanengoni: There is no particularity on how the alleged rigging took place. The applicant did not attach any evidence to substantiate his claims
17:28
We don’t know how the applicant compiled his data but the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is convinced that there is no polling station where there was some over-voting, says the ZEC lawyer
17:25
There is no discrepancy between what was announced and the voter turnout, says Kanengoni
17:25
ZEC did make provisions for people who wanted to be ZEC officials on Election Day to vote, therefore, the 40 000 figure is out, says Kanengoni
17:22
It is not known who the 40 000 teachers referred would have voted for, argues Kanengoni
17:22
Kanengoni: There is no indication that all the teachers who were deployed as election officials were registered, says Kanengoni
17:21
The only variance is the total figure, says Kanengoni
17:17
The figures presented by Chamisa showing a variance of figures has been mischaracterised by the applicant
17:16
The ZEC attorney says Chamisa’s lawyers filed an incomplete application with missing papers
17:10
Kanengoni says the applicant tried to serve papers on the 10th of August without the assistance of the sheriff
17:09
Kanengoni: The definition of of lodging refers to the filing and serving of papers through the sheriff by an applicant, therefore, the applicant cannot deny that he filed his papers out of time
17:08
ZEC lawyers now arguing
Tawanda Kanengoni is the lead ZEC lawyer
16:44
Court adjourns for 10 minutes
16:36
The law in Zimbabwe allows voters to be assisted by people of their choice and there is proof of coercion, says Uriri
16:24
It is our prayer that this case be dismissed because at the end of this hearing no one knows how many votes should be subtracted from the first respondent as no proper grounds have been established by the applicant, say Magwaliba
16:23
Magwaliba: The application was not served within the proper period of 7 days as stipulated by the law. Lodging an application and serving of papers to respondents should be done within those 7 days but the applicant chooses to blame the sheriff
16:19
Allegations of bribery referred to in the heads of arguments have not been established, says Magwaliba
16:18
Dr Outumba is not a neutral expert whose evidence should be disregarded, says Magwaliba
16:15
No one knows whether 40 000 teachers were disenfranchised of their rights to vote as no one approached the courts to complain, says Magwaliba
16:14
The applicant does not say how many votes he lost as a result of the design of the ballot papers, says Magwaliba
16:13
Magwaliba: The applicant does not deny that all parties were given sample ballots during multi-party liaison committee meetings
16:11
The applicant did not audit the voters roll, adds Magwaliba
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