SUSPENDED High Court judge Justice Erica Ndewere , yesterday gave evidence to the retired judge Justice Simbi Mubako-led tribunal investigating her suitability to sit on the bench, claiming that Judicial Service Commission (JSC) staff members were spying on judges.
Justice Ndewere was suspended on November 5 last year for
allegedly failing to complete 28 reviews and eight reserved judgments by May
18, 2020.
She was also accused of failing to properly read and
consider a record of proceedings in the case of the State v Kenneth Majecha CRB
MDP 79/19, resulting in her issuing a query in the form of a review minute
which quashed the jail sentence and substituted it with an order of community
service.
Justice Ndewere said JSC staffers circumvented Judge
President George Chiweshe by directly reporting to Chief Justice (CJ) Luke
Malaba about the conduct of judges.
Justice Ndewere was responding to questions from her lawyer
Beatrice Mtetwa in her evidence-in-chief to the tribunal.
She also claimed that she was suspended on November 5, the
same day that the CJ ordered her to complete writing the judgment on Tapson
Nyowani’s case by November 16.
Justice Ndewere told the tribunal that the charge on
Majecha was fabricated by JSC workers who were spying on her in a clandestine
investigation.
She denied the charge, and said she agreed with the
magistrate and “confirmed” the
imprisonment of Majecha.
She also told the tribunal that Majecha served his full
term and the State was not prejudiced by any judicial decision she took.
Justice Ndewere also told the tribunal that after that she
was threatened with investigation for refusing to obey an unlawful order by the
CJ.
She said she did not know that she was actually under
clandestine surveillance until after six months, when support staff intercepted
her court files and gave them to CJ Malaba.
Justice Ndewere said the registrar of the High Court,
Donald Ndirowei picked a genuine error on Majecha’s sentence on October 23,
2019 and took the file to the CJ instead of bringing it to her attention or the
Judge President.
However, before the CJ approached her, she corrected the
mistake and confirmed the judgment on November
28 2019 with the agreement of two other judges.
Justice Ndewere told the tribunal that there was no legal
reason for Ndirowei to hand over court files clandestinely to the CJ who does
not supervise High Court judges. The hearing adjourned to May 4 when both
parties will give their closing arguments. Newsday
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