By Lloyd Takawira
President Mnangagwa has appointed five constitutional court judges to be sworn in by acting Chief Justice, Elizabeth Gwaunza.
The newly appointed are Justices Chinembiri Bhunu, Paddington Garwe, Annie-Marie Gowora, Ben Hlatshwayo and Rita Makarau.
However , analysts have raised alarm over the rejection of Justice Happias Zhou’s bid for a seat at the constitutional bench.
Outspoken exiled former cabinet minister Professor Jonathan Moyo said the move was a judicial scandal meant to weed out judges not sympathetic to Mnangagwa’s administration.
A twitter thread Moyo posted on the 13th of October 2020 after the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interviewed the 7 candidates reads, “after Justice Happias Zhou came third in recent public interviews for ConCourt judges, Chief Justice Malaba has arm-twisted the interviewing panel to remove Zhou’s name from @JSCZim list of five judges recommended for ConCourt appointment!
“Out of seven judges interviewed by the @JSCZim panel chaired by Chief Justice Malaba, five were nominated by Mnangagwa’s office: Justices Chinembiri Bhunu, Paddington Garwe, Annie-Marie Gowora, Ben Hlatshwayo & Rita Makarau. Excluded were Justices Bharat Patel & Happias Zhou!”
“The top three performers from the public interviews as scored by the @JSCZim interviewing panel were:
1. Justice Rita Makarau
2. Justice Paddington Garwe
3. Justice Happias Zhou
The ordering is per how they were ranked according to their performance!”
“The five judges recommended by @JSCZim for ConCourt appointment are:_
1. Justice Rita Makarau
2. Justice Paddington Garwe
3. Justice Bharat Patel
4. Justice Ben Hlatshwayo
5. Justice Anne-Marie Gorowa
Missing is Justice Happias Zhou, who came a big third in the interviews!”
Speaking to Bustop TV, political analyst, Frank Chauke said the fact that Justice Zhou come out third is evidence that he was suppose to be among the appointees.
“The judicial debacles over the years and the wailing by the regime over Malaba judgement shows that, the judiciary as an arm of government is up for grabs. The regime doesn’t what anyone whom they don’t trust 100%. If it’s anything to be said , Justice Zhou is viewed to be anti establishment which might be true or false. They themselves know why. However it’s bad to the country when competent persons are overlooked over mediocre ones.”
Last weekend, Justice Zhou ruled that former Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s five-year extension term of office by Mnangagwa was invalid.
