Will Justice Katiyo survive the ‘guillotine’ as no-nonsense tribunal begins probe?

HARARE – High Court Judge Never Katiyo faces slim chances of surviving the judicial guillotine after President Emmerson Mnangagwa last month appointed a no-nonse three member tribunal to probe a coterie of grave misconduct allegations levelled against him, writes Express Mail Zim. The tribunal, established under Statutory Instrument 54 of 2026 following advice from the Judicial Service Commission on 14 October 2025, will determine whether Justice Katiyo’s conduct amounts to gross misconduct warranting his removal from the bench. RetiredJustice Maphios Cheda, a veteran jurist with a reputation for hardline discipline, chairs the three member panel.

He is joined by prominent legal practitionersTafadzwa HungweandChaka Mashoko(pictured above) who are both regarded in legal circles as no-nonsense operators who brook no procedural slack! The gravity and scope of allegations leave Justice Katiyo with little room to manoeuvre. Chief among them is the July 2025 _Technoimpex JSC versus Rajendrakumar Jogi and Others_ matter, in which the judge issued a ruling falsely stating that senior Advocate Thabani Mpofu appeared for the Bulgarian company.

Mpofu later disowned the judgment, forcing Katiyo to rescind it as “erroneously issued”. Other charges include issuing rulings before scheduled hearing dates without submissions from legal practitioners, attributing submissions to advocates who did not appear, altering judgment dates, rescinding his own rulings to obstruct investigations and delaying delivery of a judgment by nine months in breach of the judicial code of ethics. The tribunal was sworn in on April 16 2026 and has five months to complete its inquiry, with a report due to the President within 30 days thereafter.

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Legal analysts say the sheer weight of the allegations touching on fabrication, procedural violations and ethical breaches combined with the tribunal’s uncompromising composition, makes Justice Katiyo’s survival prospects remote. The proceedings may be held in public or private at the tribunal’s discretion.

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