High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe has criticised the Judicial Service Commission (JSC)’s decision to hold interviews for the new Chief Justice’s post when it was aware Government had initiated a process to amend the Constitution and that the selection process was being contested in court.
Hungwe had stopped the JSC’s public interviews when he ruled in favour of University of Zimbabwe student, Romeo Taombera Zibani, who wanted the President to directly appoint a Chief Justice instead of appointment by referral after public interviews. Hungwe said:
If this argument is seriously made then it reflects poorly on the first respondent’s (JSC) perception of its role, which would be unfortunate because it suggests that even in the face of a clear intention of the policy-makers, the first respondent (JSC) is bent on proceeding with a process which the applicant is challenging and which challenge appears to have caught the attention of the policy-maker.
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