Law Society of Zimbabwe gets new president

BULAWAYO lawyer Mr Thandazani Masiye-Moyo was yesterday elected the new Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) president, taking over from Mr Misheck Hogwe, whose tenure has expired.

Mr Masiye- Moyo, a senior partner at Masiye-Moyo and Associates Legal Practitioners in Bulawayo, was a LSZ councillor prior to his elevation to head the organisation. He will be deputised by Mr Tatenda Mawere of Mawere, Sibanda Commercial Lawyers.

The election was held in Harare yesterday following the expiry of Mr Hogwe's two-year term.

LSZ secretary Edward Mapara confirmed the development, saying Mr Masiye-Moyo was unanimously elected. Outgoing president Mr Hogwe said he had managed to achieve his set goals over the two-year period with among his achievements, the introduction of the electronic case management system and continuous professional development. He said the major focus of the LSZ was regulation and discipline among its members.

"The core business of the law society is regulation, as a legal profession we are self-regulating. The law society can fail in everything else but not regulation because that's its core mandate. "The integrity of the legal profession is based on the conduct of the members and the trust that members of the public have is based on how the legal practitioners conduct themselves in the execution of their duties," said Mr Hogwe.

"So it is fundamental that the law society emphasises the aspect of regulation and for that reason, one thing that I've tried to do together with council was to tighten the regulations and make sure that we rein in our errant members.

"This among other things necessitated having a look at the time in disposing of cases and general case management. So it was during my tenure that the law society introduced an electronic case management system to ensure that the management of matters is done more efficiently."

He said he cultivated a culture of engagement between the LSZ and other stakeholders namely the Judiciary, police, National Prosecuting Authority and even the Executive. Mr Hogwe said back in the day, the Law Society was confrontational but his predecessors Mr Lloyd Mhishi and Mrs Vimbai Nyemba created a good rapport with the Executive.

"During my term, a good rapport was created because I'm one person who believes in engagement as the route to solving all problems. There is no need for confrontation and when you engage you tend to get more co-operation.

"One thing I did during my tenure was to look at continuous training, continuous professional development, I think you may have heard some complaint from the late Chief Justice about lawyers appearing in court ill-prepared, poor preparation of documents among other issues, so my council also looked at that aspect and did quite a lot in trying to make sure that we continuously provide training to our members in collaboration with other stakeholders and other lawyer associations," he said.

The last LSZ president from Bulawayo was Mr Josphat Tshuma in 2011. A LSZ president is given a two-year term of office and after its expiry, the 11-member council elects a new president in terms of the society's constitution.