7
HMA 36-18
HC 263/18
have dismissed an application for want of form it is usually because the application
would have been accompanied by neither Form 29B nor Form 29, but by something
else completely alien to the Rules. This was not the case with the applicants' application
herein. Therefore, I condoned their use of Form 29B, or their failure to modify Form
29.
[15]
Furthermore, and at any rate, in terms of r 229C, the use of one form instead of another,
i.e. of Form 29B instead of Form 29, does not in itself constitute sufficient grounds for
dismissing an application. It is necessary for a court or judge to conclude that an
interested party has thereby suffeted prejudice. In casu, Mr Mushangwe, for the first
respondent, had no choice but to concede that the first respondent had suffered no
discernible prejudice by the applicants' use of Form 29B, instead of Form 29. Among
other things, the first respondent had filed an elaborate notice of opposition and
eloquently placed its case before the court.
[16]
The first respondent's second ground of objection was that the certificate of urgency
was palpably defective in that it was bereft of essential avetments and replete with
typo graphical enors.
[17]
A certificate of urgency is the sine quo non for an application being heard on an urgent
basis: see General Transport & Engineering [Pvt} Ltd & Ors v Zimbabwe Banking
Corporation [Pvt] Ltd'; Chidawu & Ors v Shah & Ors 8 ; UZ- UCSF Collaborative
Research Programme v Husaiwevhu and Ors 9 and Odar Housing Development
Consortium v Sensene Investments [Pvt] Ltd & Ors 10 . As an officer of the court, a legal
practitioner, having carefully applied his mind to the matter, certifies it to be one of
urgency. Even though the judge eventually dealing with the matter has to decide
whether or not it is urgent, he is entitled, in the initial instance, to rely on the opinion
of the legal practitioner.
7
1998 (2) ZLR 301 (H)
8
sc 12-13
9
HH 260-14
HH 709/15
10