[Bill-Watch] Court Watch 17/2014 of 20th October [Public Interviews for New High Court Judges Start 28th October]

[Veritas Bill Watch]

COURT WATCH 17/2014
[20th October 2014]
Public Interviews for New High Court Judges 
To Start on Tuesday 28th October
6 Vacancies on High Court: 46 Candidates to be Interviewed
The Judicial Service Commission [JSC] has announced that on Tuesday 28th October it will start conducting public interviews of 46 persons who have been nominated, either by the public or the President, for appointment to fill six vacancies on the High Court bench.
The nominations were received following the JSC’s invitations to the public and to the President to nominate suitably qualified persons for appointment.  These invitations were issued in March, when the first three vacancies were announced, and August, when three further posts became available [see Court Watch 5/2014 of 17th March and Court Watch 14/2014 of 18th August].    
Interviews are Open to the Public
As required by section 180 of the Constitution, the JSC will conduct these interviews in public.  All members of the public have the right to attend and observe the proceedings.
Venue:                 Crowne Plaza Hotel in Harare.
Date and time:    The interviews will start at 9 am on Tuesday 28th October.  
The Candidates
The 46 candidates are listed below, in alphabetical order.  They include three Labour Court judges [styled “Hon” in the list]; the recently-appointed Executive Secretary of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission; magistrates; well-known senior legal practitioners in private practice; a former Parliamentary Counsel; Government law officers such as the current Director of Legal Drafting in the Attorney-General’s Office and current Director of Public Prosecutions; and lawyers from the NGO sector.
1.           CHAREWA, Jester Helena
2.           CHIVIZHE, Hon Justice Bridgette Tapiwa
3.           CHIRAWU, Sylvia 
4.           CHITAPI,Tawanda
5.           DAMISO, Choice
6.           FOROMA, Davison Moses
7.           GARABGA, Ticharwa
8.           GIJIMA, Fredrick Garikayi
9.           GUMBO, Raynos
10.       KABASA, Hon Justice Evangelista 
11.       KACHAMBWA, Hon Justice Custom 
12.       KANYENZE, Olyn Rudo
13.       KUMBAWA, Peter
14.       MAKORE, Pauline
15.       MAMBARA, Joel
16.       MANYOWA, Benhilda
17.       MANZUNZU, Jacob
18.       MASAWI, Abigail
19.       MASHINGAIDZE, Dumisani
20.       MAWERE, Simba
21.       MLAUDZI, Sampson Samuel
22.       MORRIS, Erik William Wallace
23.       MOYO, Elisha
24.       MUCHINERIPI, Tapiwa
25.       MUGADZA, Teresa Pearl
26.       MUKARATIRWA, Jameson Mupariwa
27.       MUNYARADZI, Lois
28.       MUNANGATI, Nyaradzo P.
29.       MUSHORE, Edith Kuda
30.       MUTSAUKI, James
31.       MUTSONZIWA, Nelson
32.       MZAWAZI, Cathrine Kate Bachi
33.       NCUBE, Sethulo
34.       NDLOVU, Bongani
35.       NDLOVU, Munashe
36.       NYONI, Greyson
37.       PHIRI, Clara
38.       PHIRI, Clement
39.       PHOSA-MABHENA, Janet
40.       RUOMBWA, Victor
41.       SIBANDA, Augustine
42.       TAKUVA, Tariro Rosa
43.       TIZIRAI-CHAPWANYA, George
44.       TOTO, Amon Tendayi
45.       ZISENGWE, Sunsley
46.       ZVEDI, Olivia Tsitsi.
Preparation of the List of Candidates
The scheduling of the 46 interviews has been preceded by a careful sifting/vetting process by the JSC to ensure that all the candidates to be interviewed possess the objective criteria laid down as qualifications in section 179 of the Constitution [minimum age 40, sufficient legal experience, being “a fit and proper person to hold office as a judge”].  
Those nominees found to be qualified were then asked to complete a questionnaire to elicit additional personal information that does not ordinarily appear on a CV, for example: health issues; previous convictions, if any; contributions made to the furtherance of the law; and, in the case of serving judges, number of partly-heard cases and reserved judgments.
After the Interviews
JSC selected list to go to President  
After the interviews, the JSC must:
·        prepare lists of three qualified candidates for each of the six positions [the JSC’s deliberations for this purpose will take place in private], and
·        submit the lists to the President.
President to appoint new judges from list
The President must then make the appointments from these lists, unless he considers that none of the persons on a list is “suitable for appointment”.  If that happens, the President must communicate his opinion to the JSC and require it to submit a further list of qualified persons, from which he must then make his appointments.  
The President cannot appoint someone whose name has not been submitted to him by the JSC.
Gender Balance on the High Court Bench
Both the JSC, in compiling its lists, and the President, in appointing judges from those lists, must be guided by and have regard to the national objective of full gender balance as stated in the Constitution.  One of the elements of full gender balance is equal representation of both genders in all institutions and agencies of government at every level, including judicial institutions such as the High Court [Constitution, Chapter 2, sections 8 and 17].   
Of the 30 present High Court judges, only 11 are women.  The new appointments will take the total number of judges to 36.    
There are at least 14 women on the list of candidates to be interviewed for the 6 positions.  Other things being equal, therefore, the gender balance objective may result in most of the six new judges being women.  
[Reminder: In the last batch of High Court appointments five of the six judges appointed were women.  That was in July 2013, just before the present Constitution came fully into operation on 22nd August that year.]
 
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