Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has scoffed at claims by the opposition and human rights advocates that the ZANU PF-led government had a hand in recent court rulings barring some opposition candidates from contesting in the 23 August general elections.
Speaking to the media on Saturday after his arrival from Russia, where he was attending the Second Summit of the Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum, Mnangagwa said those making such claims are uneducated. He said:
They should go and recover their school fees from where they went to school. I am nowhere near the court.
I have never taken anybody to court, so if they are making such allegations, it means they do not have much education.
Two aspiring presidential candidates, Saviour Kasukuwere and Linda Masarira were barred from contesting in this year’s elections and their court applications seeking to have their names on the ballot paper were thrown out by the courts.
The courts also barred more than a dozen opposition parliamentary candidates from contesting the polls despite the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) maintaining that their nomination papers were filed in accordance with the law.
Reports suggest that the Government awarded US$400 000 “housing loans” to all judges in the country, two months before the 2023 elections.
The huge payout for judges followed similar payments to Central Intelligence Organisation directors (US$350 000), MPs (US$40 000) and cabinet ministers (US$500 000).
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