The government has denied that there is a constitutional crisis after the High Court nullified President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s extension of former Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s tenure by another five years.
High Court judges Justices Happias Zhou, Edith Mushore and Jester Charewa on Saturday granted an urgent application stopping Malaba from benefiting from the changes to the Constitution.
Speaking after the swearing-in of five judges of the Constitutional Court on Thursday, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Secretary Virginia Mabiza asserted that there was no constitutional crisis. Said Mabiza:
What we see is not a constitutional crisis. Parties have brought their cases before the court and it is entirely up to the court, the institution to which matters have been brought, to make a decision on whether or not to preside. So there is no constitutional crisis at all. As you can see that the courts are functional.
Justices Paddington Garwe, Rita Makarau, Anne-Mary Gowora, Ben Hlatshwayo and Bharat Patel took their oaths of office before Acting Chief Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza at a ceremony held at the Constitutional Court.