High Court Judge Justice Siyabona Musithu on Monday 24 May 2021 quizzed lawyers representing President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Health and Child Care Minister Constantino Chiwenga and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for their bureaucratic foot-dragging in not lifting the indefinite suspension of by-elections.
Government in 2020 suspended the holding of by-elections with Chiwenga issuing Statutory Instrument 225 of 2020 which indefinitely banned the holding of all by-elections claiming that it was a precautionary measure to contain the spread of coronavirus.
But Chiwenga’s ban of by-elections was challenged at the High Court on 13 October 2020 by Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE), Election Resource Centre (ERC) and six Harare and Marondera residents namely Ellah Tayengwa, Moud Chinyerere, Agnes Togarepi, Gracious Matsunga, David Gwanzura and Loice Gwangwara.