Jonathan Moyo Vindicated On ED's Preferred ConCourt Judges
Exiled former cabinet minister Professor Jonathan Moyo last year raised alarm over a huge judicial scandal in the selection of the five judges to the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) bench.
Posting on Twitter on 13 October 2020 after the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interviewed the 12 candidates, Moyo said President Emmerson Mnangagwa rejected High Court Justice Happias Zhou’s bid for the Constitutional Court despite him coming third out of five candidates in interviews.
Moyo’s claims and alarm have now been proven to have been correct. The judges that he said were going to be appointed were indeed appointed today; his whole list was correct, solidifying his revelation of an appointment scandal. Here is what Moyo wrote:
After Justice Happias Zhou came third in recent public interviews for ConCourt judges, Chief Justice Malaba has arm-twisted the interviewing panel to remove Zhou’s name from @JSCZim list of five judges recommended for ConCourt appointment!
Out of seven judges interviewed by the @JSCZim panel chaired by Chief Justice Malaba, five were nominated by Mnangagwa’s office: Justices Chinembiri Bhunu, Paddington Garwe, Annie-Marie Gowora, Ben Hlatshwayo & Rita Makarau. Excluded were Justices Bharat Patel & Happias Zhou!
The top three performers from the public interviews as scored by the @JSCZim interviewing panel were:
1. Justice Rita Makarau
2. Justice Paddington Garwe
3. Justice Happias Zhou
The ordering is per how they were ranked according to their performance!
The five judges recommended by @JSCZim for ConCourt appointment are:
1. Justice Rita Makarau 2. Justice Paddington Garwe 3. Justice Bharat Patel 4. Justice Ben Hlatshwayo 5. Justice Anne-Marie Gorowa
Missing is Justice Happias Zhou, who came a big third in the interviews!
Having come third, Justice Zhou was supposed to be automatically appointed to the ConCourt bench, but Mnangagwa overlooked him, in fact, he rejected him, for reasons that are not professional.
Last weekend, Justice Zhou ruled former Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s five-year extension term of office by Mnangagwa as CJ was invalid.
