Zimbabwe High Court Orders Chief Justice to Step Down
Voice of America
HARARE, ZIMABABWE - Zimbabwe’s High Court has ordered the country’s chief justice to step down after he reached 70 years of age, despite a recent constitutional amendment that appears to allow him to serve five more years.
The court's ruling Saturday came after human rights lawyer Musa Kika made an urgent application asking Zimbabwe Chief Justice Luke Malaba to step down. Kika was elated after the Saturday ruling outside the courtroom. “This is a wonderful moment for us. I think it’s the vindication of the rights of the people. It’s a victory for the people of Zimbabwe, who are the stakeholders of the constitution who own this social contract. Our hope is that the powers that be, the executive, is going to respect the decision that has been made by a court of law. So, this is a defining moment for Zimbabwe. We hope that it heralds a new trajectory that we will witness going forward,” Kika said. Thembinkosi Magwaliba, the lawyer representing Malaba and the Judicial Service Commission, which opposed Kika’s application, said he was unsure as to next steps. “We do not know yet. We have to take instructions on that. The options are to live with the judgment or to appeal it,” Magwaliba said. Malaba was not immediately available for comment.People walk past the entrance of the International Medical Corps American field hospital ahead of its evacuation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on June 2, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Displaced Palestinians sit alongside their belongings in a van driving in al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 2, 2024. People talk in front of a sign referring to hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 2, 2024. Palestinians use a path lined with destroyed buildings al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 2, 2024.
This handout photo released on June 2, 2024 shows South Korean military officers check unidentified objects believed to be North Korean trash from balloons that crossed the inter-Korea border, on a street in Seoul. In this photo provided by Jeonbuk Fire Headquarters, balloons with trash presumably sent by North Korea, hang on electric wires as South Korean army soldiers stand guard in Muju, South Korea, May 29, 2024.