Justice Patel’s tenure extended

PRESIDENT MNANGAGWA has extended Justice Bharat Patel’s tenure as a Constitutional Court judge by five years after the jurist reached the mandatory age of retirement this month.

Justice Patel turned 70 on April 16. According to the Constitution, he was supposed to retire had he not received an extension.

Section 186 of the Constitution states that “Judges of the Constitutional Court are appointed for a non-renewable term of not more than fifteen years, but they must retire earlier if they reach the age of seventy (70) years unless, before they attain that age, they elect to continue in office for an additional five years.”

The decision to extend his tenure has to be assented to by the President after having been presented with sufficient evidence that the judge is still of solid mental and physical standing to hold office.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Services Permanent Secretary Mrs Virginia Mabhiza confirmed to The Sunday Mail that Justice Patel will continue to serve on the bench.

“His tenure was duly extended by the President in terms of the law. The extension will be for five years, meaning Justice Patel will sit on the bench until 2026,” she said.

Justice Patel is an experienced legal practitioner who started his career in London in the 1970s as a paralegal after graduating with a law degree from University of Rhodesia and a master’s degree from University College in London.

He returned to post-independent Zimbabwe and joined Government as a legal counsel playing an advisory and representative role.

In 1993, he joined the Attorney-General’s Office heading the division of Legal Advice before he was elevated to Deputy Attorney-General in 2000.

Between 2003 and 2004, he was acting Attorney-General following the resignation of Mr Andrew Chigovera.

In 2004, he was appointed to the High Court bench.

From 2007 to 2008, Justice Patel again acted as Attorney-General after the dismissal of Mr Sobuza Gula-Ndebele.

Justice Patel was appointed to the Supreme Court bench in 2013, when both the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court were manned by the same judges.

When the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court were separated in 2020, he was assigned to the Constitutional Court, where he still serves.