The Supreme Court in Zimbabwe has ruled that Nelson Chamisa is not the legitimate leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in a judgment that put to rest the leadership battle between him and Dr Thokozani Khupe.
Chamisa’s MDC Alliance is the biggest opposition party in the country, in terms of both support and representation in parliament.
The ruling follows an appeal by MDC-Alliance leaders Chamisa and Morgan Komichi challenging a High Court ruling in May last year which declared that Chamisa was illegitimately acting as the party leader.
Khupe argues Chamisa unconstitutionally ascended to the helm of the party and that his elevation by Tsvangirai to the job of co-vice president 2016 was undue.
She opposed Chamisa’s ascension to the helm of the country’s main opposition following the death in February 2018 of founding party leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Khupe approached the High Court, where she won her case, leading to Chamisa’s appeal at the Supreme Court.
During the appeal hearing last October, Khupe who was being represented by Professor Lovemore Madhuku asked the Supreme Court to throw out Mr Chamisa’s appeal on legitimacy to enable her to hold an extraordinary congress and pick up the pieces.
The dismissal of the appeal must reinstate Khupe as the proper leader of the MDC and the opposition party will go back and start from February 15, 2018.
Chamisa had been embroiled in a leadership wrangle with Khupe, the leader of a faction of the MDC, who claimed she was the legitimate leader of the MDC and that the party should revert to its 2014 constitution.