FORMER Attorney-General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele yesterday admitted to assisting erstwhile Zanu-PF secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa and the Mujuru cabal in their quest to sue the revolutionary party, amid revelations that fired Deputy Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Fortune Chasi, was also party to the cabal’s application.
The Mujuru cabal seeks to have the courts nullify the outcome of Zanu-PF’s 6th National People’s Congress held in December last year as its members seek reinstatement to their former positions in the party and Government as at July 1, 2014.
Former Vice President Dr Joice Mujuru, nine ministers and six deputy ministers were fired from Government for behaviour inconsistent with their duties after expending time on factionalism and graft with a view to ousting President Mugabe from the leadership of the party.
Dr Mujuru and Mutasa are now mere Zanu-PF card-carrying members after they failed to land Central Committee positions in elections held last year.
On Thursday, Manicaland Province recommended the dismissal of Cde Mutasa for behaviour inconsistent with Zanu-PF principles.
The Mujuru clique has drafted its application, which legal experts said had no chance of success, with the assistance of Mr Gula-Ndebele and Mr Addington Chinake, a senior partner at Kantor and Immerman.
Though Mr Gula Ndebele and Mr Chinake worked closely with the Mujuru cabal in putting together the application, they apparently did not have confidence in their product and shopped around for a law firm to use to instruct an advocate.
When a case involves an advocate, there have to be instructing lawyers.
They approached several advocates, among them Advocate Lewis Uriri whom they wanted to take the application to the High Court, and they also wanted Adv Uriri’s wife, who runs her own law firm, to be the instructing attorney but the couple snubbed them.
The cabal approached several other lawyers who also snubbed them on the basis that the application was long on politics and short on law.
From Adv Uriri, the cabal knocked on Adv Thabani Mpofu’s door who also snubbed them on the basis of the politics of the case whose legal merits are hard to come by though political allegations abound.
After serial snubs, the Mujuru cabal is scrambling for plan C that is having either Mr Gula Ndebele or Mr Chinake, who both wanted to remain anonymous, handle the case.
Though Mr Gula-Ndebele yesterday confirmed Cde Mutasa, sources close to developments said many of those initially linked with the case were dissociating themselves from it, and the cabal was still to find an advocate to file the application at the High Court.
“Yes, he ( Mutasa) is my client, I am his lawyer but what I am doing for my client is not for public consumption,” said Mr Gula-Ndebele.
“If it is going to court you will see it there. If you brief me on something, yes it is not a secret but I cannot discuss it without your authority. He is my client and because I am not a politician but a professional I need the authority of my client to discuss anything.”
He added: “We represent anyone because it is our job to represent the case of a client as best as you can and it is up to the courts to decide whether or not there is a case. I cannot tell you that it will succeed or fail but I give my opinion of the law and the law is not mathematics, people do see differently. I represent murderers and victims of murder among many issues.”
Sources close to developments said the Mujuru cabal was still shopping around for an advocate to take the case to the High Court with many of those they had approached turning down the case.
Mr Chinake could not be reached for comment.
Cde Chasi distanced himself from application saying: “I am not aware of that application and I have not been instructed to work on such an application. Infact, I have not yet started practicing (since being fired). Chaiye chaiye ndiani because you have mentioned a lot of lawyers.”
The lawyers are said to have come up 39 grounds for the application, ranging from alleged defamation to claims of unprocedural adoption of amendments to the Zanu-PF Constitution.
The application makes allegations of defamation against various individuals, principally the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe who exposed former VP Joice Mujuru’s illegal dealings in gold, diamonds, high-level bribery and extortion, among other ills.
Mr Stanford Moyo and one Retired Colonel Matemachani, who were said to have been busy lobbying for the case in judicial circles, distanced themselves from the case.
