Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court has confirmed Luke Malaba as Chief Justice.
The Constitutional Court quashed a May ruling of the High Court that the president’s decision to extend Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s tenure breached the constitution because he had reached the retirement age of 70.
Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and the Judicial Service Commission had appealed the ruling by three High Court judges at the Supreme Court.
But before the Supreme Court had pronounced itself, lawyer Professor Lovemore Madhuku approached the ConCourt on behalf of Zanu PF activist Marx Mapungu in June, arguing that President Emmerson Mnangagwa acted appropriately and constitutionally by extending Malaba’s term of office by five years following controversial constitutional amendments.
Madhuku told journalists that this brings to an end all legal challenges to Malaba’s term extension.
“The ConCourt has set aside the decision of the High Court that had said the CJ was not legally in office, by Justices Happias Zhou, Edith Mushore and Jester Charewa,” he said.
“The court said the order by the judges had to be confirmed by the Constitutional Court for it to be valid. The ConCourt has refused to confirm that order and has set it aside. It means at this end, the CJ is properly elected to remain in office and the president properly approved that election. It means from day one we never had a problem with CJ being in office, it has always been constitutional,” he added.
