By A Correspondent- Suspended High Court judge justice Erica Ndewere is reportedly paying the price for refusing to take orders from Chief Justice Luke Malaba.

Sources privy to developments revealed that Ndewere told Justice Malaba that the Constitution does not make provision for him to supervise her work.

Said an anonymous journalist in a leak:

I am a journalist who closely reported the the developments in the cases of Job Sikhala, Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume after their arrest on Inciting Public Violence. I work for the locally registered online media house. There is no day my bosses didn’t allocate me duties to Court to cover and follow the cases of the three blow by blow. Many international news outlets borrowed stories about the developments on the trio’s cases from us.

I remember on the day when the hearing for Job Sikhala’s bail appeal in the High Court was to be heard, we were shuffled from one Court to another until we were told that the bail hearing by the Judge will be heard their arguments from lawyers of Job Sikhala and prosecutors in Court J.

The Judge opted for Court J instead of the usual bail court F because she wanted a Court with recorders. The bail hearing scheduled to commence at 14:15 hrs started late around 15:30hrs. Everyone was worried on the cause of the inordinate delay.

When the matter started the Court room was full and journalists had to stand in the corridor to follow proceedings. After arguments by lawyers from both sides Justice Ndewere went back to her office.

We noticed strange things happening and we whispered among ourselves as journalists about, who the people who followed Justice Ndewere to her offices. We later understood that these were not ordinary people. They were state security agents from Munhumutapa Building, who we gathered threatened Justice Ndewere on the dire consequences if she dare grant Job Sikhala bail.

They went to show her some documents outlining her transgressions during her tenure as a judge, some of them ridiculous to contemplate or believe. They alleged that she used her Assistant to write judgements on her behalf and that they will come for her if she grants Job Sikhala bail.

We wanted to break the news but my Editor told us that the story might jeopardize Job Sikhala’s chances of getting bail. We left it there.

Again something strange happened that the Judge hesitated to give her ruling on the on the bail appeal for a period spanning a week and half. Bail judgements are generally given immediately after arguments by lawyers and prosecutors, but Job Sikhala’s bail ruling was delivered after one and half weeks. This should have attracted the inquisitive mind of Zimbabweans.

On the day of the bail ruling, Justice Ndewere announced that she will deliver her judgment at 1400hrs. People who came were directed to go to Court A, the largest Court room at the High Court. The Court was full to the gallery by the time announced for the ruling.

All Job Sikhala’s family, friends and colleagues were waiting for the judgement only for another inordinate delay to take place. The Judge invited Job Sikhala’s lawyers and the state public prosecutor to come to her office.

They came back and told everyone to wait as the judge was finishing editing her judgment putting comas and full stops. People had to wait until 16:46hrs for the Judge to enter the Courtroom. From her first sentence to the last full stop she was castigating the police and the Magistrate who heard the matter at Rotten Row for serious misdirections committed.

It could be noticed that the Judge was hiding her judgment from uninvited external forces. After the delivery of her judgment we obtained information that, she received a telephone call from the Chief Justice Malaba who shouted at her over her judgment. Her life was never the same since then. She became a loner at the Court hounded by the threats thrown at her by the Chief Justice Malaba.

Ndewere, last month granted bail to MDC Alliance vice-chairperson Job Sikhala, said she received Malaba’s letter of complaint against her conduct on September 15, but refused to respond, arguing Malaba did not supervise High Court, but Supreme Court judges.

In her response, Ndewere referred to sections 163(2) and 163(3) of the Constitution, saying it was clear that the Judge President and, in this case Justice George Chiweshe, was in charge of the High Court, while Justice Malaba was in charge of the Supreme Court.

“The Judicial Service Commission does not have the legal authority to deal with complaints raised against the Honourable Ndewere. We direct your attention to Statutory Instrument 107 of 2012 and the provisions contained therein. The Chief Justice does not have the authority to direct the Judicial Service Commission to attend to any complaint against a sitting judge of the High Court,” Ndewere’s lawyers Sawyer and Mkushi said in response to the JSC dated September 30, 2020.

“The regulations which govern the handling of complaints are contained in Statutory Instrument 107 of 2012. In the result, section 187(3) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe is not applicable to the extent that there are no legal requirements for Ndewere to respond to your minute.”

Ndewere urged Malaba to follow laid down procedures for dealing with complaints against a sitting judge.

According to the Constitution, Ndewere’s issue was supposed to be handled by Justice Chiweshe, who would refer it to the Chief Justice, in the event that he failed to address it.

After Malaba received the complaint against Justice Ndewere, he was supposed to appoint three judges to conduct a disciplinary hearing to make recommendations to him before involving the JSC or President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

It would appear Malaba conflicted himself by being the complainant when he was supposed to be the adjudicator since he also chairs the JSC.

The internal memos showed the JSC has not yet disclosed the misconduct charges levelled against Ndewere, but it is believed that some of the allegations include late finalisation of matters.

The source said Ndewere was also being accused of refusing to take Malaba’s instructions not to grant bail to Sikhala before she heard the matter.

“Justice Ndewere is being victimised by Chief Justice Malaba for refusing to take his instructions not to grant bail to a prominent politician before she heard the case. Malaba threatened her with investigations when she told him that his instructions were unlawful and against the Constitution,” the sources said.

It is alleged Justice Chiweshe refused to raise complaints against Ndewere.

The matter is likely to spill into the Constitutional Court as the Chief Justice’s conduct is tantamount to interference.

This brings to two the number of judges that have been suspended this year over alleged misconduct.