Since June last year, the JSC has unsuccessfully tried to
contact the judge to hear her story and her whereabouts are still unknown.
Secretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mrs
Virginia Mabiza confirmed the development, saying the recommendations have
since been forwarded to President Mnangagwa, who will set the tribunal.
The recommendations, Mrs Mabiza said, were done in terms of
Section 187 (1) and (3) of the supreme law of the country to ascertain if the
judge is still mentally and physically fit to continue working.
A tribunal will also investigate and establish whether
there is evidence of gross incompetence and misconduct on the judge’s part.
The JSC has recommended to the President that the question
of her suitability to remain in office be referred to a Tribunal. We await
further instructions from the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).
The referral is in terms of s187 (1) and s187 (3) of the
Constitution of Zimbabwe, said Mrs Mabiza. Section 187 of the Constitution
provides that a judge may be removed from office only for inability to perform
the functions of his or her office, due to mental or physical incapacity, gross
incompetence or gross misconduct.
In terms of the law, once the commission recommends a
Tribunal, the President is obliged to facilitate and appoint the tribunal.
Justice Mushore last reported for duty on June 14 last year
and is yet to give a formal explanation.
Judges cannot be absent from work for more than three days
without official leave and if unwell they are asked to send in a doctor’s
report so they are granted sick leave.
Efforts by her superiors in the judiciary to get an
explanation from Justice Mushore, and invitations for her to send her driver
with a doctor’s report, have been in vain and no one from the JSC has been able
to gain admittance to her home.
The Judge President of the High Court has since allocated
Justice Mushore’s cases to other judges to ensure the litigants get justice
within reasonable time.
Justice Mushore is attached to the family law court at the
High Court.
When asked initially for an explanation she indicated she
was unwell, but she has not sent a sick note. Three separate letters were
written by her superiors at the High Court asking her to at least send a driver
with the doctor’s note, but without success.
The head of the High Court’s family law division, her
immediate superior, in June last year wrote Justice Mushore a letter asking her
to explain her absence from work.
A month later, the Judge President of the High Court wrote
again to Justice Mushore reminding her that her absence from work without
official explanation amounts to misconduct.
She was even asked to send her driver with the sick note
but to no avail.
On August 12 last year, the Judge President informed Chief
Justice Luke Malaba of the development and he then sought an explanation from
Justice Mushore in writing, but up to now she has not responded.
In June, the motion court failed to sit after Justice
Mushore did not attend. Herald
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