Justice Minister Ziyambi, AG Machaya Face Arrest Over Contempt Of Court
Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and Attorney-General Prince Machaya face arrest for contempt of court after they defied a ruling ordering them to craft a code of conduct for the country’s Vice-President and ministers.
In June, High Court judge Justice David Mangota ordered the government to craft a law regarding office conduct for the VPs and ministers within 45 days.
This was after former law student Nyasha Chiramba approached the court in April 2021 seeking the enactment of the law.
Mangota ruled that the law was long overdue since the Constitution was promulgated nine years ago, NewsDay Zimbabwe reports.
In his court application filed through the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum on Wednesday, Chiramba said there was wilful disregard of this order. He added:
The order was granted on 8 June 2022 and the respondents failed or neglected to act on that order until 25 days after the issuance of that order on 15 July 2022 when they requested a full judgment of that order.
In computing the timeframe to comply with that order, the respondents were supposed to submit to Cabinet this Bill by 17 August 2022. That order is still extant, and the respondents failed or neglected to comply with that order.
Chiramba said Ziyambi and Machaya’s conduct goes against the founding principles of constitutional supremacy, rule of law and good governance.
