President appoints two Supreme Court judges
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has appointed two new judges to the Supreme Court to beef up the understaffed bench.
Justices Francis Bere and Lavender Makoni — who were at the High Court — were elevated after succeeding in public interviews conducted two years ago.
The pair will today take oaths of office before Chief Justice Luke Malaba in Harare.
Judicial Service Commission (JSC) acting secretary Mr Walter Chikwana confirmed the development.
“The honourable Chief Justice of Zimbabwe Luke Malaba (CJ) will swear in two new Supreme Court judges on the 11th day of May 2018 at the Constitutional/Supreme Court, Mashonganyika Building, Corner 3rd Street and Samora Machel Avenue, Harare,” he said.
Mr Chikwana said the swearing in ceremony would start at 10am and is expected to end at 11am.
Justices Bere and Makoni were among eight High Court judges who were interviewed for the vacant posts of Supreme Court judges in 2016.
The eight, six men and two women were interviewed on September 29, 2016.
The other judges who participated in the interviews were: Justices Priscilla Chigumba, Alfas Chitakunye, Charles Hungwe, Samuel Kudya, Joseph Mafusire and Nicholas Mathonsi.
Justice Makoni has served as a High Court judge for 16 years before the latest elevation to the Supreme Court. Justice Makoni was now a senior judge-in-charge of the High Court’s civil division based in Harare.
Prior to her joining the Judiciary, Justice Makoni practised as a legal practitioner and founded Makoni Legal Practice. She also served as a law officer in the Attorney-General’s Office for 12 years.
Justice Bere was appointed to the High Court bench in 2004 and worked in Harare.
Prior to his appointment to the High Court bench, Justice Bere served as a judge of the Administrative Court for four years.
At the time of his appointment to the Supreme Court, he was now senior judge-in-charge of the High Court in Bulawayo.
Justice Bere started off as a teacher and worked at three schools in Murehwa, Mutoko and Bindura in the 1980s.
He joined the magistracy in July 1990. Justice Bere then practised as a legal practitioner with Bere & Associates Legal Practitioners from 1993 to 2000.
The Judiciary is in the process of legally and administratively separating the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court by 2020.