Zimbabwe’s Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku has fired a warning on Robert Mugabe  instructing him to refrain from publicly commenting on matters under consideration by the courts.
 
Chidyausiku in a grand statement the first of its kind in Zimbabwe’s history issued on a sitting Head of State, said Mugabe’s statements are in violation of the sub-judice court protocol bar.  Robert Mugabe last week abused his office and committed the highest contempt of court by threatening and also violating court protocol by saying the case raised by expelled party Secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa and former Spokesman Rugare Gumbo was useless and any judge who even considers it for hearing must appear before him for questioning.
 
Mugabe went further denigrating the office of Zimbabwe’s honourable High Court judges saying he will have their qualifications questioned if they entertain the pair who are challenging their ouster from both party and leadership.
 
In a statement read on his behalf by the Chief Registrar of Superior Courts Mr Munamato Mutevedzi at a Press conference Tuesday, Justice Chidyausiku took a direct swipe at Mugabe saying the aged President should not seek to interfere with the administration of justice.
 
“The Chief Justice calls upon all to refrain from publicly commenting on matters under consideration by the courts in violation of the sub-judice rule,” said Chief Justice Chidyausiku.
He said the courts will not be swayed by the comments and that all the pending cases will be dealt with in terms of the law.
“Notwithstanding the comments and reports on pending matters, the Chief Justice reassures all that matters before the courts are and will be determined in accordance with nothing other than the law,” he said.
The head of the Judiciary said he issued the statement in response to comments carried in the public media regarding pending court cases.
“The Chief Justice notes with concern the proliferation in the public media of inappropriate comments on matters pending before the courts, contrary to the time honoured and internationally accepted practice of refraining from publicly commenting on matters that are sub-judice,” he said.
“However, such reports and comments must not seek to, or be perceived as seeking to prejudice, influence or interfere with the due administration of justice or fair trials of the matters reported on.”
Didymus Mutasa and former spokesperson Mr Rugare Gumbo have moved to seek the nullification of the ZANU PF December 2014 party’s congress and its outcome.
Addressing thousands of people gathered at Chinyika Ranch Ward 2 in Chirumanzu-Zibagwe Constituency to witness a ground-breaking technology, the exothermic (Alluminathemic) demonstration by African Chrome Field, President Mugabe last week reportedly said it would be interference with Zanu-PF’s internal matters if the Judiciary entertained the court challenge by Messrs Mutasa and Gumbo.
Professional Legal analysts reveal Mr Mutasa is now unlikely to get a fair court hearing following the President’s comments.
Constitutional lawyer Dr Alex Magaisa and University of Zimbabwe lecturer Professor Lovemore Madhuku also talked about the case, with Prof Madhuku being quoted as calling on Chief Justice Chidyausiku to issue a statement demanding that the Executive stops interfering with the Judiciary.
But Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo who has no legal training whatsoever said that the lawyers were misdirecting themselves in twisting the President’s statement. He said Mugabe was entitled to this legal defence, and was within his rights to challenge the court’s jurisdiction as a respondent in the matter. Moyo said it was entirely up to the court, which would hear the case, to determine whether or not it had the jurisdiction that had been wrongly presumed by Messrs Mutasa and Gumbo.
Legal analysts have however laid their full facts that Mutasa and Gumbo’s case has become compromised. More to follow…