Nicholas Ndou
| Retired Justice Nicholas Ndou | |
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Nicholas Ndou is a Zimbabwean lawyer and retired Judge of the High Court of Zimbabwe. When he was a Bulawayo High Court judge, Ndou ordered Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to call for by-elections in three vacant constituencies in Matabeleland.
Education
He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree, B.Proc. Law from the University of Limpopo in 1980. Nicholas Ndou also holds a Law Bachelor's Degree from the University of Zimbabwe and a Master's Degree, LL.M Human Rights and Constitutional Law from the University of Pretoria.[1]
Career
He worked as a Public Prosecutor, Senior Regional Magistrate and High Court Judge in Zimbabwe. He was a Senior High Court Judge at Bulawayo High Court. Ndou was also a law lecturer at the University of Limpopo in South Africa.
He served as Director of Legal Services at Gauteng provincial parliament in South Africa and was appointed as Ad Hoc Judge of the Supreme Court of Swaziland. Nicholas Ndou also served as the chairperson of the Midlands State University Staff Disciplinary Committee.
In 2019, he was appointed an Acting Judge at the Income Tax Appeal Court and Fiscal Special Court in Zimbabwe.[1] He retired from the High Court of Zimbabwe in 2012 having served from 2008. Before his departure, the judge was handling the Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF) activists’ treason trial.[2]
Ndou sits as an ad-hoc Judge of the High Court of Namibia.
He also served as an acting Judge of the Supreme Courts of Swaziland and of Zimbabwe. Nicholas Ndou is a former Director of Legal Services of the Limpopo provincial parliament in South Africa.[3]
He chaired the Tribunal into the conduct of Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission commissioner Frank Muchengwa. The tribunal recommended the dismissal of Muchengwa.[4][5]
Notable Rulings
Ordering Mugabe To Hold By-elections
In October 2011, Nicholas Ndou ordered Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to announce election dates in Lupane East, Nkayi South and Bulilima East. He gave Mugabe and the commission two weeks to comply.
Mugabe and others in the Government of National Unity had been reluctant to hold by-elections, citing the financial burden. No by-elections had been held since the unity government was launched in 2009 though seats have been vacated by deaths and political party infighting.[6]
On 12 July 2012, the Supreme Court threw out the Government's appeal against fresh elections upholding Ndou's High Court ruling directing Mugabe to call by-elections in three Matabeleland constituencies. The ruling was delivered by Godfrey Chidyausiku, Vernanda Ziyambi, Paddington Garwe, Marie-Anne Gowora and Yunus Omerjee.[7]
Namibian Supreme Court Judge
In December 2012, Ndou handled a case where retired Namibian Supreme Court judge Justice Pio Teek was suing the government after the latter's acquittal on six criminal charges was set aside by the courts in 2009.
Nichola Ndou ruled that the High Court did not have jurisdiction to deal with the claim that Justice Teek instituted against the government.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nicholas Ndou, LinkedIn, Published: No Date Given, Retrieved: April 22, 2022
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Justice Ndou working in Namibia, NewsDay, Published: January 16, 2013, Retrieved: April 22, 2022
- ↑ Justice Nicholas Ndou, AIMA, Published: No Date Given, Retrieved: April 22, 2022
- ↑ Fidelis Munyoro, Tribunals lifespans extended, The Herald, Published: March 8, 2021, Retrieved: April 22, 2022
- ↑ President Mnangagwa Fires ZACC Commissioner Muchengwa, Pindula News, Published: April 21, 2022, Retrieved: April 22, 2022
- ↑ Blessing Zulu, High Court orders Mugabe to call by-elections, Nehanda Radio, Published: October 13, 2011, Retrieved: April 22, 2022
- ↑ Gift Phiri, Mugabe loses election case, Nehanda Radio, Published: July 13, 2012, Retrieved: April 22, 2022
