HARARE – Nelson Chamisa has asked Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi to issue a ministerial certificate allowing Nelson Mandela’s former lawyer Jeremy Gauntlett to join his legal team for the Presidential Election petition hearings set to start on Wednesday.

Chamisa’s lawyers wrote to Ziyambi last Friday – but his camp fears the minister might decline the request. Ziyambi was Mnangagwa’s chief election agent in the election now under dispute.

In the letter to Ziyambi signed by Chamisa’s lawyer Chris Mhike, the MDC Alliance leader’s legal team says “because of the sophisticated and specialised nature of the case, we intend to instruct an advocate that has the expertise that we expect to be applied in advancing our client’s interests. The legal practitioner, who we have identified, is Advocate Jeremy John Gauntlett SC QC who lives and practises law in South Africa.”

Gauntlett will be joining two other leading South African lawyers Advocates Dali Mpofu and Tembeka Ngcukaitobi on the case. Mpofu and Ngcukaitobi are already in the country, but are not expected to argue in court, with Gauntlett and Advocate Thabani Mpofu set to spar with lawyers for Mnangagwa and ZEC.

Only Zimbabwe-registered lawyers can represent clients in court, and foreign lawyers require a temporary licence issued with the minister’s permission to practise.

Legal expert Alex Magaisa said it was an “oddity” that Chamisa must be asking Mnangagwa’s election agent in the form of Minister Ziyambi for permission to hire a lawyer.

“It’s an oddity of the law and circumstances that such a request in this case has to be made to a person who is so obviously conflicted. The Justice Minister was the election agent of Mnangagwa, the candidate whose declared win is being challenged,” Magaisa, a law lecturer at Kent University in England, said.

“It will be odd, however, if Ziyambi refuses to grant the exemption certificate for Chamisa’s lawyers, given the conflict of interest. Indeed, any delays or difficulties in the process of the exemption application will contaminate the process and will certainly raise eyebrows.”

The International Commission of Jurists, an international human rights group with a standing group of 60 eminent jurists, including senior judges, lawyers and academics dedicated to ensuring respect for international human rights standards through the law, confirmed Sunday that it was sending a team to observe the court proceedings.

The Judicial Service Commission has also published a notice warning of the closure of Samora Machel Avenue, between Sam Nujoma Street and Simon Muzenda Street, from 5AM and 9PM on Wednesday. The road passes in front of the Constitutional Court which will be a hive of activity as local and international journalists assemble to hear a case that will decide Zimbabwe’s next President.

The MDC Alliance leader says in court papers that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) manipulated election results to favour incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was declared winner of the July 30 election with 50.8 percent of the vote.

After hearing arguments, the nine Constitutional Court judges can declare a winner or order a re-run.

Losing presidential candidates Elton Mangoma and Noah Manyika have filed affidavits with the court, both demanding a re-run and accusing ZEC of electoral malpractice.