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Fidelis Munyoro
Chief Court Reporter
The inquiry into the fitness of suspended High Court judge, Justice Erica Ndewere, to hold office is underway before a three-member tribunal led by retired judge Justice Simbi Mubako this morning, with her lawyers raising preliminary issues.
She is denying the allegations of gross misconduct in the performance of her duties, including failure to clear her workload in reasonable time and failure to properly study the file on a thief’s conviction and sentence when she set aside a jail term.
Justice Ndewere who is being represented by Ms Beatrice Mtetwa of Mtetwa and Nyambirai is accusing Chief Justice Luke Malaba of pursuing her after she defied his unlawful orders.
The Constitution provides that a judge may be removed from office for inability to perform the functions of his or her office, due to mental or physical incapacity, or gross incompetence, or gross misconduct.
President Mnangagwa appointed a tribunal to investigate allegations of misconduct against her on recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in November last year.
Justice Ndewere was appointed to the bench in 2013. Before her appointment as a High Court judge, she was the president of the Labour Court.
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