Chief Justice Chidyausiku calls it a day

Chief Justice Godfrey Guwa Chidyausiku has reached the 70 year mandatory retirement age limit for judges and vacates the post of head of judiciary with lawyers crediting him for transforming the conditions of services for judicial officers as well as for playing a pivotal role interpreting the constitutional position regarding the land issue in Zimbabwe.

Chief Justice Chidyausiku's 16 year tenure as head of the judiciary has come to an end this Tuesday (today) the 28th of February 2017 and for legal practitioner Tapson Dzvetero the greatest judicial achievement that can be attributed to the retired Chief Justice is his role in enabling the land reform question to come to life through interpreting the new constitutional provisions.

For Mrs Vimbai Nyemba, the past president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, the outgoing head of the judiciary's gender policy enabled the upliftment of more women to the bench at both the lower and superior courts.

The transformation of the face of the justice delivery system through the Judicial Service Commission by the outgoing Chief Justice is evidence enough of his huge contribution to the legal industry, says Mr James Makiya.

Chief Justice Chidyausiku is a former politician who acted in opposition to the Smith regime in 1974.

In 1980 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Local Government and Housing and of Justice before being promoted to Attorney General in 1982.

He was appointed to the bench where upon he was appointed to head the Constitutional Convention in 1999 before his subsequent appointment to the post of Chief Justice in 2001 upon the resignation of Chief Justice Antony Gubbay.