The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)’s urgent application seeking to challenge President Robert Mugabe and the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) over the nullification of appointment of Acting Prosecutor-General (PG) Ray Goba’s as the substantive country’s top prosecutor yesterday failed to be entertained after it emerged that the President’s Office did not sign the return of service papers confirming receipt of the application.
BY CHARLES LAITON
High Court judge Justice Priscilla Chigumba postponed the hearing to Thursday next week after ZLHR’s lawyer Advocate Eric Matinenga also indicated his intention to further cite Attorney-General Prince Machaya and Justice minister Happyton Bonyongwe as respondents alongside Mugabe, the JSC and Goba.
In its application filed on Wednesday this week, the human rights lawyers said it was challenging the legal validity of the Government Gazette extraordinary notice No 642/2017 which was published on October 27 this year.
The government’s extraordinary gazette came almost a month after Goba was appointed substantive PG before his appointment was repealed before he assumed his duties.
ZHLR executive director Roselyn Hanzi filed the founding affidavit, arguing that “the purported reversal” of Goba’s appointment, through a Government Gazette, was unlawful, ultra vires provisions of the Constitution and in breach of provisions of the Administrative Justice Act.
