JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 82 ____________________________________________________________________ According to the lawyers, the Chief Justice then said he would grant the order the Registrar-General sought, without first hearing the lawyers on the merits. Despite their insistence on being heard, he refused to do so and brought the proceedings to a close. In his judgment, which was produced the next day, he accused the CHRA’s lawyers of “somewhat insolent and unco-operative conduct”. 129 The CHRA then filed a counter-application in the Supreme Court requesting, inter alia, that the Registrar-General’s appeal be heard urgently, and an urgent hearing of the appeal was then allowed. On 7 December 2001, after full argument, the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal and ordered that the City Council elections be held on or before 11 February 2002. In his judgment the Chief Justice said the law was clear and this order was unavoidable. The President intervenes If the Registrar-General was going to comply with the Supreme Court’s order, he would have had to start the election process no later than 14 January 2002. He failed to take any steps to comply with the Supreme Court’s order, however, and so after 14 January he was in contempt of court. On 9 January 2002 the Ministry of Information announced that the President had decided that the Harare council elections should be held in conjunction with the presidential election, on 9 and 10 March. This decision presumably encouraged the Registrar-General not to give effect to the Supreme Court’s order, though the order remained binding on him. Finally, on 23 January the President issued a notice, purportedly in terms of s 158 of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:01], which stated that notwithstanding any order of court to the contrary, the Harare elections were to be held on 9 and 10 March 2002, in conjunction with the presidential election. 130 Challenge to the President’s notice On 28 January the CHRA sought a provisional order from the High Court compelling the Registrar-General to give formal notice of the election and declaring the