Chidyausiku shames judges

Daniel Nemukuyu Harare Bureau
CHIEF Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku yesterday took the unprecedented step of naming the country’s five best performing High Court judges, while shaming some lazy performers, including one who wrote just TWO judgments all year.Opening the 2015 legal year in Harare, the Chief Justice demanded reforms in how judges are recruited, proposing that they be put on probation to test their competence.

The Chief Justice singled out Justice Nicholas Mathonsi for special mention after the former Bulawayo High Court judge wrote a staggering 72 judgments in 2014.

The Chief Magistrate’s Office, headed by Mishrod Guvamombe, was also up for good mention after reducing the cases backlog from 49,000 to just 2,000 without getting any additional staff in 2014.

The country’s top judge listed other hard workers in the top five as Justices Nokuthula Moyo (Bulawayo), Priscilla Chigumba (Harare), Loice Matanda Moyo (Harare) and Charles Hungwe (Harare).

Chief Justice Chidyausiku did not reveal names of the lazy judges, but said there was no justification for their poor performance as they operated in the same environment with the top performers.

He told his audience which included Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa: “In this regard, let me mention Justice Mathonsi, who in the course of the year, wrote and handed down an impressive 72 judgments.

“His industry is revealed in its true dimensions if it is compared to the output of the least performing judges, who had two, three, six and 11 judgments respectively for the whole year.

“The four judges (worst performers) and Justice Mathonsi operate in the same environment and are subject to the same limited and unattractive conditions of service. As head of judiciary, I will accept no explanation that will seek to justify such low output as compared to what is possible within the same constraints.”

Chief Justice Chidyausiku said he was proud of Justice Mathonsi and the other top performers.

“In the same vein, let me mention with commendation the performance of Justices Moyo, Chigumba and Matanda-Moyo who, together with Justice Mathonsi, were the top four performers in the entire High Court.

“To the four, I say well done, and even though I cannot reward you in any way, I wish to let you know that as your Chief Justice, I’m proud of your efforts.”

Chief Justice Chidyausiku praised Justice Hungwe for “pulling up his socks” and coming out as the fifth top performer, describing his improvement as a “remarkable turnaround”.

“This is a remarkable turnaround because over the years Justice Hungwe’s performance has been a cause for concern,” he said. “He and I have had conversations over the issue. I’m delighted that the conversations have had a positive outcome. Keep it up judge.”

According to Chief Justice Chidyausiku, the declaration of more vacancies at the High Court and appointing more judges was not the main solution in reducing backlog.

“The case of Justice Hungwe’s performance buttresses my contention that diligent application by the judges could be the answer to taming the backlog in the High Court,” he said.

The Chief Justice said the quality of judgments at the Labour Court should be improved.

“Some judges performed extremely well in terms of numbers, although the number of one-page judgments was usually high in the Labour Court,” he said.

The backlog at the Labour Court in Gweru, the Chief Justice said, had ballooned since the departure of Justice Maxwell Takuva, who is now a High Court judge. He was succeeded by Justice Custom Kachambwa.

In 2013, Justice Takuva maintained the backlog at zero, but last year it rose to over 200 cases after Justice Kachambwa took over.

The Constitutional Court and Supreme Court judges were commended for being on top of the situation and managing the increasing cases filed last year despite being understaffed. In 2014, 79 cases were filed at the Constitutional Court and 52 cases were completed, while judgment was reversed in several other cases.

Of the 407 appeals filed at the Supreme Court last year, 333 were finalised.

The opening of the legal year at Mashonganyika Building was attended by lawyers, government officials and Acting President Mnangagwa, who also doubles up as the Justice Minister, Attorney General Johannes Tomana, Police Deputy Commissioner General Levy Sibanda, Prisons Deputy Commissioner General Moses Chihobvu.