Law Society exposed

because he is a member of Zanu-PF.

Mr Masimirembwa is a member of the Zanu-PF Harare Province. In opposing his application for readmission, Harare lawyer Mr Joseph Mafusire of Scanlen and Holderness claimed re-admitting Mr Masimirembwa into the legal profession would tarnish the image of LSZ.

“As far as I am concerned, he has been energetically supportive of an oppressive and barbaric dispensation.
“As chairman of the irrelevant and moribund National Incomes and Pricing Commission he has brought untold suffering to the generality of the people by zealously executing impossible economic policies,” alleged Mr Mafusire.

He added: “His name has been associated with acts of violence in regards to factional fighting in the political party of which he seeks leadership.”
Another lawyer from Scanlen and Holderness Mr George Gapu also opposed Mr Masimirembwa’s admission on political grounds.

“The applicant’s activities since his banishment do not indicate that he is now rehabilitated.
“His articles in the Press have not demonstrated a commitment to upholding the rule of law nor the values which are at the core of the legal profession . . .

“He is a character who has been too happy to sing for his supper by pursuing partisan political interests which are divorced from promotion of the application of the rule of law,” alleged Mr Gapu.
Mr Mordecai Mahlangu of Gill, Godlonton and Gerrans also opposed the readmission of Mr Masimirembwa on similar grounds.

“In my view, he does not belong to the legal profession and would do well to remain in the political arena where his skills are no doubt appreciated by those who have placed their faith upon him,” he said.
The LSZ also opposed the readmission of Mr Masimirembwa with its deputy executive secretary Mr Wilbert Mandinde arguing that the appointment of Mr Masimirembwa by President Mugabe to such State enterprises as the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe was no indicator that he has reformed.

“The view of the applicant held by the President of Zimbabwe who is also a political leader of his party is not necessarily indicative of the fitness and propriety of the applicant as required in terms of the Legal Practitioners’ Act,” Mr Mandinde said.

Veteran lawyers like the late George Chikumbirike, Mr Aston Musunga, Mr Abdullah Ismail Kassim and Mudambanuki and Associates want Mr Masimirembwa re-registered on the grounds the he has reformed.
In opposing Mr Masimirembwa’s application, the LSZ has exposed itself especially after it re-admitted Professor Lovemore Madhuku in 2007.
Prof Madhuku was deregistered by the LSZ in 1992 after his conviction on 15 counts of theft by conversion and one count of fraud involving Z$3 580 of client funds while employed by Scanlen and Holderness.

Observers then said Prof Madhuku’s re-registration was based on political consideration and not jurisprudence. Besides teaching law at the University of Zimbabwe, Prof Madhuku is chairperson of the western funded National Constitutional Assembly, which helped campaign for a no vote in the referendum on the draft constitution produced by the Government appointed Constitutional Commission a decade ago.