Prince Machaya

Prince Machaya is a Zimbabwean legal practitioner and the Current Attorney General.He is also an advocate of the High Court who has been practising law since 1976.

Advocate Prince Machaya
Attorney General - Prince Machaya (Image Credit: Herald.co.zw)
Attorney General
Preceded by	Johannes Tomana
Personal details
Born	Prince Machaya

Background

Machaya has had a long history of involvement in legal matters dating as far back as 1976.

Career

• Bachelor of Law (Honours) Degree (BL) from the University of Rhodesia (now University of Zimbabwe) in 1975
• Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB) from the same university in 1976.
• National Diploma in Management Studies (Harare Polytechnic)
• Admitted to the Bar as an Advocate of the High Court in 1976.
• Joined Honey and Blackenberg law firm as a professional assistant in 1979 and stayed for 3 years.
• Admitted to the Side-bar as an attorney of the High Court of Zimbabwe and a Notary Public in 1981.
• Practiced as a self-employed lawyer from 1981 to 1987.
• Served as a trustee on the Law Society Compensation Fund and he was also one of the founding trustees of the Legal Resources Foundation between 1983 to 1987.
• Member of the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Tribunal from 1985 to 2001.
• Part of a six-member committee on the codification of Zimbabwe criminal law chaired by the then Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay in 1986.
• Joined the Attorney General’s Office in 1987 where he worked as the Director of the Civil Division for four years.
• Joined the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe as assistant general manager (Legal Counsel) before being elevated to become the general manager in May 1991.
• Served the Reserve Bank as Bank Secretary and Director Corporate Services from 1998 to 2004.
• Practiced law as an advocate at Advocates’ Chambers in Harare where he was elected as chairman of the chambers between July 2004 and December 2007.
• Appointed Deputy Attorney General in December 2007.
• He was once chairman of the Credit Guarantee Company (Private) Limited, a firm jointly owned by RBZ and commercial banks in the country.^[1]

Prominent Legal Cases Involved In

1. Represented Zimbabwe at the SADC Tribunal landmark farm case in 2008, when white farmers who were removed from their land took Zimbabwe to the regional court.^[2] Zimbabwe would go on to lose the case,^[3] but the court would later be disband.</ref> Zimbabwe would go on to lose the case^[4]
2. Represents President Robert Mugabe in applying for a delay to hold by-elections in 3 vacant constituencies. Wins the case and elections and held at the same time in July 2013.^[5]
3. Part of legal team that represents Zimbabwe in $45m diamond seizure in Belgium. Zimbabwe wins the case to have the diamonds returned.^[6]

References

1. ↑ Fidelis Munyoro and Daniel Nemukuyu, President appoints AG, Herald, Published: 20 Feb 2015, Retrieved: 20 Feb 2015
2. ↑ Tribunal lacks power to reverse land reforms: Zim lawyer , Race and History, Published: 20 Jul 2008, Retrieved: 20 Feb 2015
3. ↑ SADC Tribunal Court Case: The Campbell Case, Mike Campbell Foundation, Published: No Date Given, Retrieved: 20 Feb 2015
4. ↑ Zvamaida Murwira, Regional leaders permanently disband SADC tribunal, Herald, Published: 20 Aug 2012, Retrieved: 20 Feb 2015
5. ↑ High Court grants Mugabe by-election delay, NewZimbabwe, Published: 5 Apr 2013, Retrieved: 20 Feb 2015
6. ↑ Itai Mazire, Zimbabwe recovers $45m diamonds seized by SA company, Chronicle, Published: 8 Dec 2014, Retrieved: 20 Feb 2015