Zimpapers Logo

Mashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
ONE of the key contenders in the Mvuthu chieftainship wrangle, Saunders Mlotshwa, has filed opposing papers challenging a Bulawayo High Court provisional order interdicting him from being installed as the substantive chief pending the finalisation of the succession dispute before the courts.

Last month, Justice Maxwell Takuva ordered that no-one must be installed as a substantive chief following an urgent chamber application filed by Mlotshwa’s niece, Silibaziso, 21.

Silibaziso is the eldest daughter to the late Chief Mvuthu who died in 2014. She had earlier filed summons arguing that she was disqualified from being a chief just because she was a woman.

In opposing papers, filed through his lawyers Masiye-Moyo and Associates, Mlotshwa, 65, said the application by his niece was fatally defective and lacked merit. He also argued that the High Court had no jurisdiction to resolve disputes of that nature.

“I’m advised that this honourable court has no jurisdiction to resolve disputes of the nature contained under case number HC/3449/15 and as such cannot be the basis of an interdict such as is sought to be confirmed in this application.

The proceedings under HC/3449/15 cannot in their being constitute a prima facie right,” argued Mlotshwa.He also claimed that Silibaziso was not familiar with the community that she wanted to lead.

“Elders chose me as the next chief of the Mvuthu clan and it is not correct as alleged by the applicant (Silibaziso) that people from Hwange district did not attend the meeting. The applicant is not familiar with the people as she spent so much of her life in Hwange town,” said Mlotshwa.

He also accused his niece of using the gender issue as a trump card to draw sympathy from authorities.“What the applicant fails to appreciate is that at the end of it all it is the people that must speak on the Chief Mvuthu succession issue.

In this case it is the Mvuthu clan and the elders who made a conscious decision that in terms of our tradition and lineage, the chieftainship had to be bestowed upon me,” said Mlotshwa.

He said the High Court had no jurisdiction to entertain such disputes, arguing that the powers to appoint a chief rested with President Robert Mugabe.

Mlotshwa said the High Court may only review the President’s decision but cannot not usurp his powers.