YLAZ, Mutanda lawsuit latest

Fidelis Munyoro
Chief Court Reporter
The High Court has found not urgent the application by Young Lawyers Association of Zimbabwe (YLAZ) and war veteran Frederick Mutanda that Chief Justice Luke Malaba remains disqualified to continue in office despite the noting of an appeal to the Supreme Court against a High Court judgment a few weeks ago.

Justice Amy Tsanga removed the application from the urgent roll since most of the issues raised in the application were also argued in the previous application last week seeking Chief Justice Malaba to be found in contempt of court and sentenced to six months in prison. Contempt of court could only be found if the two judges hearing that older application found that the noting of an appeal did not stay the original High Court judgment despite the legal standard almost always applied, precisely what the new application seeks.

The contempt of court legal process was sparked by the return of the Chief Justice to work on the strength of appeals noted to the Supreme Court challenging the 15 May High Court decision that neither Chief Justice Malaba nor any other sitting judge of the Constitutional or Supreme Courts had the option laid out in the latest constitutional amendment to extend their term of office until they were 75.

Three High Court judges – Justices Happias Zhou, Edith Mushore and Jester Charewa – ruled that only sitting High Court judges had that option.

The ruling was made on the Chief Justice’s 70th birthday, so he promptly stood aside. But once appeals were noted by the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs the following week, he then followed the standard legal procedures, that noting an appeal stays a judgment, and returned to work.

This stung the executive director of Forum, Mr Musa Kika, who as one of the applicants in the original urgent application rushed to the High Court seeking the decree that the Chief Justice was in contempt of court and seeking a six-month jail term, although he is prepared to see that suspended so long as the Chief Justice stands aside.

But in his rejoinder through counsel, Chief Justice Malaba requested the High Court to throw away the solicitation for his arrest on contempt of court charges, arguing that he is legitimately in office.