Judicial Services Commission Refuses To Release Results Of Supreme Court Judges’ Interviews




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The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) has refused to release the results of Supreme Court judges’ interviews held two years ago.

This comes after human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa filed an application for the results to be made public to promote greater transparency. In opposing Mtetwa’s claim, JSC secretary Walter Chikwana said,

The applicant is ill-advised, both as regards her understanding of the law and her rights with respect to the present application. I aver that on a proper interpretation of the law, her application may be dismissed with costs on a legal and practitioner scale as prayed on this basis alone, as it is no more than an exercise in futility.

…The applicant is seeking wholesale disclosure and surrender of ‘any and all correspondence exchanged between the respondents (president and JSC) between September 29, 2016, and May 11, 2018. This is unheard of. There is no legal principle that supports the granting of such a wide-ranging and all-encompassing order.

Out of the 8 High Court judges who were interviewed, only two Justices Francis Bere and Lavender Makoni, have been elevated to the Supreme Court.

More: NewsDay