President Mugabe shakes hands with newly appointed Supreme Court judge Justice Antonnia Guvava, while new High Court judges (from right) Justices Erica Ndewere and Loice Matanda Moyo, Judge President George Chiweshe and Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku. a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Tuesday, 16 July 2013 00:00
Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
Zimbabwe Herald
PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday swore in six High Court judges while Justice Antonia Guvava has been elevated from the High Court to the Supreme Court.
Two commissioners of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission were also sworn in by President Mugabe, who is also Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, at a ceremony held at State House.
The six judges appointed to the High Court are Justices Loice Matanda-Moyo, Erica Ndewere, Esther Muremba, Owen Tagu, Nokuthula Moyo and Dr Amy Tsanga.
Those sworn in to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission are Ms Sethulo Ncube and Professor Carroll Themba Khombe.
In an interview, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the elevation of the judges was to fulfil constitutional requirements that state that the Constitutional Court should have nine judges. The elevated judges left gaps in the High Court that needed to be filled.
“We elevated judges to the Supreme Court to make up the Constitutional Court. That created a gap in the High Court that made it necessary to fill through the appointment of the six judges we have sworn in today,” said Minister Chinamasa.
“The issue was complicated by the fact that currently we have the Electoral Court that had to receive complaints and disputes from the electoral process. That means a lot of judges are busy leaving the normal work of the High Court unattended.”
On two commissioners of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Minister Chinamasa said Prof Khombe would replace Mr Jacob Mudenda who was elevated to chair the commission.
Before her appointment to the High Court, Justice Matanda-Moyo was president of the Labour Court. At one stage she was Director of Public Prosecution in the Attorney General’s office.
Mrs Ndewere was also president of the Labour Court until her appointment.
Dr Tsanga is University of Zimbabwe law lecturer specialising in family law.
Mrs Muremba was a senior regional magistrate for Central Division while Mr Tagu was senior regional magistrate for Western Division.
Mrs Moyo was in private practice in Bulawayo.
Prof Khombe was the regional director for Institute for Rural Technologies and was also a part time lecturer at the Lupane State University and the National University of Science and Technology.
Ms Ncube was Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association coordinator for the Southern region.
The event was attended by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, Judicial Service secretary, Justice Samuel Kudya and other High Court judges.
No comments:
Post a Comment