Judiciary Capture Is No Longer Fiction

By Harare Correspondent

Harare-The Chief Justice, Mr Luke Malaba, is happy to sit in the ConCourt in cases he was involved in at Supreme Court level thereby making the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court the ‘Chief Justice’ courts where no judge dares disagree with him for fear of victimization, according to disgruntled Judges.

Social media and other public fora have alleged that Judges have written to the President, Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, the Attorney General of Zimbabwe on judiciary capture.

A few months ago, ‘Post on Sunday’ ran on Twitter on the public perception on the Zimbabwe Judiciary service delivery system following a rise in the number of arrests of political activists and that of an award winning journalist, Mr Hopewell Chin’ono, who were remanded in custody in the Chikurubi Maximum Security prison for over a month in the wake of unusual court processes and submissions.

In an unstamped letter dated 26 October 2020, the judges highlighted ‘what is repeater in the public domain and on social media about capture of the judiciary is no longer fiction, it is in fact a reality.”

However, the grapevine has it that the judges have denied knowledge or source of the letter purported to have been manufactured by enemies of the state and those of the Chief Justice.

The letter also stated that the CJ now rules with an iron hand where magistrates used to be subject to administrative supervision by their superiors, it is now an open secret that the Chief Justice now routinely interferes with magistrates and their judgement through the Chief Magistrate, Mr Munamato Mutevedzi’s office.

The scathing letter comes barely weeks after High Court Judge Erica Ndewere, was suspended for misconduct soon after she had released Movement For Democratic Change (Alliance) deputy chairpe and Zengeza West legislator, Mr Job Sikhala, on bail.

Ndewere wrote to the President challenging the decision of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) to establish a tribunal to investigate her for misconduct.

In the criminal justice system, prosecutors have become the new judicial officers as they wield enormous power and regularly misinterpret the conduct of the Magistrate and judges in open court as and when they report to the illegal structures that receive reports on court cases.

Induced by fear, the author of the letter has asked the President to commission a thorough investigation by ZACC and an independent tribunal, citing the fact that Judges cannot append their names to the complaint for obvious reasons and the pervasive fear currently hitting the judiciary.