Judge vilified for freeing Mangoma

This follows comments by lawyers this week mourning the “death” of the independent judiciary in Zimbabwe after the Attorney General succeeded in his campaign to intimidate a High Court judge.

A written protest from Attorney General Johannes Tomana to Judge President and the Judicial Services Commission calling for action on Justice Samuel Kudya, ostensibly for passing judgment on factual issues before the trial of the Energy and Power Development Minister, Elton Mangoma, was described as a crucial stage in Zimbabwe’s descent into outright dictatorship. The intimidation is said to be aimed at making sure the judiciary is more amenable to Zanu (PF).

Justice Kudya, one of the few remaining independent judges, has resisted interference and is coming under renewed pressure to toe the line. He has a choice to continue resisting or to resign, a move that will create an opening to appoint a pliant majority on the High Court bench.

Kudya has been subjected to vilification for freeing minister Mangoma, the deputy treasurer-general in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, a move that infuriated the AG.

In his letter, Tomana complained that he has “a serious problem with the extent to which the learned judge made factual findings regarding the propriety of the charges, the probative value of witnesses testimonies, the innocence of the accused person and the justification for his actions, as if he was the trial judge.

Alec Muchadehama, a leading rights lawyer, said it marked the death of the independence of the judiciary, and said it was undue interference and a form of dictatorship.

In granting Mangoma bail, Justice Kudya said: “In my respectful view, the State case appears to me to be weak. It is not the type of case that would induce the applicant to abscond.

Zimbabwean judges have resigned and some have stepped down because of

political pressures. Many judges were politically appointed and the few who continued to maintain their independence are vilified in the state-run media.

Muchadehama called on the government to respect the independence of the judiciary.