Judgment reserved in Chief Justice Malaba’s contempt of court case

A two-judge panel of the High Court heard the contempt case against embattled Chief Justice Luke Malaba and reserved judgment on Thursday after a third judge was forced to recuse himself following allegations he may have tried to influence the case.

Only two High Court judges were left on the bench after Justice Webster Chinamora had recused himself from hearing the embattled Chief Justice’s contempt of court matter.

This came after former minister Jonathan Moyo had claimed that he had tried to influence two other judges on behalf of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which Malaba controls.

In Chambers, Zimlive also reported that Justice Chinamora confirmed meeting, JSC secretary Walter Chikwana in the last week.

The case follows Malaba’s return to work after the same court had declared on 15 May 2021, that the top judge’s term of office expired when he turned 70 on 15 May.

Malaba claimed that an appeal he made in the Supreme Court has nullified the ruling against him, hence his return to work.

Apparently, it also later came to light that he had in fact, not yet made the appeal.

Meanwhile, the two judge panel reserved ruling to sometime next week.

-Zwnews/ Zimlive