CHIEF Justice Luke Malaba yesterday cancelled a controversial workshop that was slated for today and tomorrow and was expected to be addressed by Zanu PF’s Chitepo School of Ideology principal and the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) director-general.
Some judges who spoke to NewsDay expressed reservations over Malaba’s order for judges to be trained by a political party and the CIO, arguing that it is a serious attack on the independence of the Judiciary.
In a memorandum cancelling the programme, which was described as a “Workshop of Intergrated Results-Based Management (IRBM) Training Workshop”, Malaba said they would come up with a programme content administered by the Judiciary and suitable to the requirements for judicial independence.
“The Judiciary has been actively engaging with the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) regarding the most appropriate programme, training material and resource persons for this performance management training initiative, consistent with the constitutional requirement of the guarantee of judicial independence,” Malaba said in the memo yesterday.
“Following the initial consultations and continued discussions with OPC on the implementation framework, I wish to inform you that a decision has been taken to cancel the IRBM training, with the view of coming up with a programme content administered by the Judiciary and suitable to the requirement for judicial independence.”
He said the judges would be notified in due course of any new arrangements regarding the training.
However, judges who spoke to NewsDay expressed unhappiness with the order, which they argued was a serious attack on the independence of the Judiciary.
They said there was no way they would be trained by a principal director of the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology and come out without being tainted in the eyes on the public.
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A lawyer told NewsDay that legally, performance evaluation of judges falls under the Judicial Service Commission and could not be subcontracted to the Executive.
The lawyer said the Executive could not, under the Constitution, do a performance evaluation of an independent arm of the State and that the Judiciary must not and should not submit itself to the President’s Office.
According to the programme, the judges were supposed to be addressed by the Chitepo School of Ideology principal Ishmael Mada, CIO director-general Fulton Magwaya and Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion permanent secretary George Guvamatanga.
