Lawyers slammed for malpractice

Daniel Kachere Harare Bureau
Lawyers must stop commercialising the practice of law and stick to the profession’s code of ethics to preserve the fair delivery of justice, Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba has said. He said this last Friday at a Pan-African Leadership Initiative meeting organised by the African Evangelism Enterprise Zimbabwe (AEEZ) in Harare.

Justice Malaba said legal practitioners should live and work in accordance with the ethics of legal practice. “We must work according to the fundamental values that are no different from the values of Christianity or any other religion,” he said. Justice Malaba said the legal profession was characterised by stringent values and every practitioner should adhere to them for a good justice delivery system.

He bemoaned the upsurge of lawyers abandoning their vocations. “We’re greatly concerned about cases where some of us are abandoning our vocation,” he said. “It’s embarrassing to try a lawyer or a magistrate. It’s a terrible thing to hear that judicial officers have accepted bribes. When you take bribes, which law are you enforcing?”

Justice Malaba warned that any judicial officer found guilty of malpractice will be immediately struck off the roll. He said that judicial officers should be independent enough to abide and enforce the rule of law with impartiality. “Anyone who does anything that’s against the law should be brought to book regardless of their status, as the judiciary is independent and impartial,” said Justice Malaba.

“Relationships have nothing to do with the law. When the public criticises the judiciary this would be a result of not abiding to the profession’s ethical conduct and values.” Justice Malaba warned legal practitioners against withholding information in cases before the courts as a way of soliciting bribes from the public.

“Don’t be a lawyer if you want to make money,” he said. “It’s those lawyers who came with commercial interests that are causing problems in the justice delivery system.” Addressing the same meeting, Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda said legal practitioners must pass on a legacy of justice, peace and integrity in the practice of law.

“We’ve to change our mindset and consider the integrity of practice of law as a vocation to be servants of the law, the clients, courts and independent commissions that promote constitutionalism and the rule of law,” he said. “This calls for humility in accepting the dignity of hard work which should enable us to earn an honest living from the titivations of material and psychological corruption.”