PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday fired retired judge Justice Maphios Cheda as chairperson of a tribunal he set up to determine Justice Thompson James Mabhikwa’s fitness to hold the office of High Court judge.
Mnangagwa appointed Retired Justice November Matshiya as
new chairperson of the tribunal in Proclamation 6 of 2021 under Statutory
Instrument 233 of 2021.
In the proclamation, Mnangagwa said the investigations
could be carried out with an extension of further six months after the expiry
of the initial five months.
Justice Cheda was appointed chairperson of the tribunal on
June 17, 2021.
“Now, therefore, under and by virtue of the powers vested
in the President as afore said, I do hereby, by this proclamation, amend the
proclamation published in Statutory Instrument 170A of 2021 by the deletion in
paragraph (b) of the words, Retired Justice Maphios Cheda and the insertion of Retired Justice November
Matshiya,” Mnangagwa said.
Justice Mabhikwa went under probe after nude pictures
allegedly from his phone went viral on social media earlier this year.
The pictures exposed his alleged affair with Oratile Nare,
a female staff member at the Bulawayo High Court.
It is alleged that Nare forwarded pictures from Mabhikwa’s
phone to a judges’ WhatsApp group and contacts in his phone after she had
discovered that the judge was flirting with another woman.
Chaka Mashoko, a procedural law lecturer and lawyer
Phillipa Magnify Philips are the other members of the tribunal.
The tribunal is investigating whether or not Mabhikwa
committed acts of sexual harassment or possessed pornographic material. Newsday
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