A HARARE lawyer has petitioned the Attorney-General to re-look into constitutional provisions governing tribunals set up by the President to investigate judges saying they are tyrannical. The lawyer argued that the process is flawed because a judge facing removal is not granted the right to appeal the tribunal’s decision. According to Chawaona Wildroad Kanoti, the lawyer, the entire tribunal process is a mere formality to remove an accused judge, who has no legal recourse.
He described process as undemocratic and tyrannical. Kanoti noted that judges appearing before such tribunals do so “like a lamb to the slaughter”. He pointed out that history shows no judge has ever been exonerated by such inquiries.
The only recourse for judges has been for them to resign whether they believe they are guilty or innocent. “But it is obviously occasioned by the fact that practice and the impugned provisions indicate that the process of the inquiry is so constitutionally flawed as to be nothing else, but a slaughter inquiry.” President Emmerson Mnangagwa has dismissed judges following tribunal recommendations. These include Francis Bere, Benjamin Chikowero and Erica Ndewere. Kanoti, however, said section 187 of the Constitution provided for the “removal of judges from office” based on the recommendation of an appointed tribunal, without affording the affected judge the right to appeal or to seek a second opinion.
