Andrew
Online Reporter
ZIMBABWE has become a force to reckon with in space law moot court, specifically the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Competition, which local universities joined just two years ago.
This year, the Midlands State University (MSU) raised Zimbabwe’s flag high by scooping the best participant in the African Region, and coming in third position out of 81 teams worldwide.
The competitions are sponsored by the International Institute of Space Law, and are largely centered on space policy development.
The Space Law Moot Court concept was conceived in 1992.
This year witnessed two universities from Zimbabwe participate in the competition, namely MSU and the University of Zimbabwe.
In a closely related development, on Monday Zimbabwe launched its ZimSat-1, from Virginia in the United States.
This comes after Zimbabwe launched its space agency, the Zimbabwe National Geo-Spatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA) in July 2018, as it sought to address human capacity building in space navigation which triggered engineers, scientists and policymakers to be part of the poll in human capacity development.
Space Law Moot Court coordinator, Ms Beulah Wozhele, said personnel with an interest in space policy development in the country’s legal fraternity have been stimulated to facilitate and coordinate the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition in Zimbabwe.
“The national coordinator not only invites and helps universities on how to engage and on how to register to participate, but also encourages universities to make participation in the moot court competition an automatic part of their annual plans,” Ms Wozhele said.
“The competition is a simulated hearing in the area of space law, and is organised annually by the International Institute of Space Law (IISL).
“By participating, students develop valuable analytical and advocacy skills. In a way, countries develop the technical legal capacity by preparing the next generation of space lawyers.”
Great Zimbabwe University was the pioneer participant in this prestigious competition in 2020.
That year, the competition was judged based on memorials due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The students who participated that year are Kundiso Charmaine Rusike, Ashley Muza, Makomborero Carl Muropa.
This year’s world finals were held in Paris, France from September 18 to 22.
The MSU team consisted of Namatai Katsande (best oralist), Eunah Ndou, Panashe Majegu and Ntandoyenkosi Moyo their coach.
Each of Zimbabwe’s participating universities got a gift of a book titled ‘The Geostationary Ring – Law and Practice’ by Mrs Martha Mejia-Kaiser, a renowned author and member of the board of directors of the International Institute of Space law.
Online Reporter