LIST: Judges Are Accusing CJ Malaba Of The Following 15 Things In Their Letter To ED

In a letter penned by judges to President Emmerson Mnangagwa complaining about Chief Justice Luke Malaba and how he is running the judiciary service commission, the judges accused Justice Malaba of the following things:

1. The Chief Justice rules without fetter
2. The Chief Justice now routinely interferes with magistrates and their decisions through the Chief Magistrates’ office.
3. Promotion without interviews of senior personnel within the Judicial Service Commission
4. Where certain decisions are made which are unpopular with the Chief Justice, parties are directed to appeal with guarantees of success on appeal,
5. No Supreme Court judgment can be delivered without the Chief Justice’s approval.
6. All draft judgments in the Supreme Court are circulated amongst all the judges including those who did not hear arguments on the matter. Judges who did not hear an argument on a particular case can influence the result without having even read the record. During the circulation, the Chief Justice can tell the judges to change their judgments
7. A complaint against Justice Mabhikwa has been allowed to fester and It Is an open secret that the Chief Justice sent a personal emissary to him on how to respond.
8. He concealed the misconduct allegations against him when he was interviewed for the position of Chief Justice
9. Most of the decisions paraded as JSC decisions are in fact the Chief Justice’s personal decisions which he instructs the Secretary of the JSC to communicate as Commissioners’ decisions
10. The Chief Justice rents out one of his houses to the JSC.
11. Abandoning the hiring of services from Rooneys in favor of hiring these from a company belonging to one of the Vice Presidents and his estranged wife at a cost far higher than that charged by Rooneys
12. The renovation and furnishing of courtrooms by relatives of senior JSC personnel across the country
13. The provision of other services by relatives of other JSC personnel including by a firm of lawyers where the CJ’s daughter is a partner
14. The Chief Justice address judges as they are errant school boys and girls.
15. In the Supreme Court, judges are humiliated in front of others by being made to “clap for performers” and perceived “non-performers” are dressed down in front of their colleagues