Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum these litigations [which] in my view are not necessary'.lxxxiii Emmerson Mnangagwa, Speaker of Parliament, blocked an MDC motion in the House of Assembly ‘seeking to set up an inquiry into pre-election violence. The matter was being pursued in the courts, he conveniently declared, and was therefore sub judice. This is of course nonsense. Parliament is at liberty to debate whatever it wants to so long as it doesn’t direct the courts what to find. The court actions hinge on specific cases of irregularities and intimidation. Parliament has the right to debate general political responsibility for the systematic violence that is continuing today. Indeed, it has a duty to do so’.lxxxiv On 6 October, the State President amnestied most acts of political violence. The MDC regarded this action as being of considerable value to its pending court cases - 'an admission that acts of violence, intimidation, murder, rape, etcetera took place ... that there was and still there is a breakdown of law and order'.lxxxv In late November the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs noted that 111 arrested individuals had been released (87 for public violence, 17 for assault, four for property damage, two for kidnapping and one on firearms offences). He gave no figures for those 'awaiting prosecution'.lxxxvi Rural folk reported an upsurge in violence as they were assaulted for having laid the complaints which resulted in the arrests of the offenders who were subsequently released. Fourteen of the 38 MDC electoral petitions were set down for hearing in the High Court before Justice James Devittie between 9 January and 11 May 2001. They were to have started with the highest-profile challenge in Buhera North, where MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai had lost to Kenneth Manyonda. Hurungwe East, Mutoko South, Shurugwi, Goromonzi, Masvingo South, Mberengwa West, Zaka West, Gutu North, Mazowe West, Mt Darwin South, Murehwa North, Mwenezi and Chivi North were to have followed. On 8 December 2000, after the hearing dates had been set for the first 14 cases, the State President tried to cancel these legal challenges under the Electoral Act (s158) in the Electoral Act (Modification) (No 3) Notice 2000 (Regulations).lxxxvii It is worth quoting SI 318/2000 in extenso. ‘Recognising that the general elections … were held under peaceful conditions and that the people who voted did so freely and that the outcome thereof represents a genuine and free expression of the people’s will; Noting that the candidates who lost in that general election have instituted civil suits challenging the results and that these suits are frivolous and vexatious as evidenced by the results of the recount of the ballot papers relating to some constituencies; Regretting that the litigation referred to above is sponsored by external interests whose motives and intentions are inimical to the political stability of Zimbabwe; Concerned that the institution of such litigation has placed intolerable burdens on duly elected Members of Parliament and is compromising their duties as Members of Parliament; Concerned further that the multiplicity of such suits has already overstretched the limited resources of the Registrar-General of Elections and the judicial system and other national resources and that the involvement of external interests is undermining the political stability of Zimbabwe and the democratisation process; Now, therefore, in the interests of democracy and the peace, security and stability of Zimbabwe it is hereby notified that His Excellency the President, in terms of section 158 of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:01], has made the … Electoral Act (Modification) (No. 3) Notice, 2000 … [which] shall have effect for the purposes of the general election held following the dissolution of Parliament on the 11th April, 2000. Validation of election of candidates in certain circumstances 34