Zimbabwe – Ready for Elections? 61 These matters were consolidated and heard on 4 July 2013 and were all dismissed in an omnibus fashion. No reasons have been provided to date for the court’s decision. 4.3.1.2 Registration/ citizenship Mawere v Registrar General & 3 Ors10 Mutumwa Dziva Mawere filed an application to the Constitutional Court seeking to assert his citizenship by birth. He wanted the R-G to be compelled to issue him with a national identity document and to register him to vote. The R-G was refusing to do so. The Constitutional Court ruled in his favour and granted the application by consent after the R-G’s legal representatives indicated that the R-G had erred in refusing to register him and issue the ID. 4.3.1.3 Nomination court challenges Bere v Chairperson ZEC & Anor11 Bere was an aspiring independent candidate for the Ward 19 Makonde Local Authority elections. He submitted his nomination papers on time and was advised that one passport size photograph was missing. Her tried looking for it within the venue and failed to locate it. He went out and obtained more photos and presented them at around 1430hrs. At around 1715hrs he was advised that his nomination papers could not be found. He tried to submit a fresh set but was denied the right to do so on account of it being beyond 1600hrs, being the closing time for the nomination court. He was advised that his nomination papers had accordingly been rejected. He filed an ordinary application in the Constitutional Court under case number CCZ48/13 on 4 July 2013 and an urgent application for urgent hearing under case number CCZ 49/13 on 5 July 2013. The urgent application was granted and the main matter was set down for hearing on 18 July 2013. The application was dismissed on the basis that his proper relief would have had been to approach the Electoral Court within four days of the sitting of the nomination court and lodge his appeal there. Masamba v Minister of Justice & ZEC12 Masamba filed an application seeking the postponement of the sitting of the nomination court arguing that he intended to file papers as an independent presidential candidate. He argued that he was not employed and needed more time to raise the required nomination fee of US$500. He also argued that he did not have a car and it was not feasible to get to all the provinces in Zimbabwe to obtain nominees within the space of a day, given that he was only given copies of the nomination forms barely a day before the sitting of the nomination court. This application was dismissed on 18 July 2013 on the basis that it did not disclose a cause of action. 10 Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe unreported case 27/13; Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe unreported case 30/13. 11 Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe unreported case 48/13 & Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe 49/13. 12 Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe unreported case 42/13.

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