Deputy Chief Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza has refused to be referred to as Acting Chief Justice of Zimbabwe, despite the fact that embattled Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s tenure of office is yet to be decided by the courts.
Malaba was recently forced out of the bench by the High Court upon reaching the retirement age of 70, he has since appealed to the Supreme Court seeking it to overturn the ‘lower’ of the two courts’ ruling.
Since his forced retirement, Gwaunza had been regarded as acting CJ, however, a few weeks ago Malaba showed up at his office and reported for duty saying he is till in charge on the basis of having had appealed to the Supreme Court.
Apparently, Justice Gwaunza, responding to lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa’s letter requesting her to investigate circumstances leading to last week’s recusal by Justice Chinamora after it emerged he met the Judicial Services Commission Secretary, a litigant in the matter before him, she said she is not Acting CJ.
-Zwnews
