AG told not to take national interest for granted

Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba has rapped the Attorney-General's Office for taking a lackadaisical approach when representing the Government in court cases of national importance.

The top judge said the esteemed office was failing to treat matters of public importance with the seriousness they deserve.

The Deputy Chief Justice's censure will resonate with many who have raised concern with the AG's Office in the wake of the botching of several cases where the State lost not on matters of law, but through wilful incompetence of State counsels.

Justice Malaba made the remarks while sitting with eight other judges of the Constitutional Court in a matter in which a Harare woman, Emelda Mhuriro, was contesting the constitutionality of Sections 18 (1) and (3) of the Labour Act.

The pieces of legislation only allow female employees with at least one year service to go on fully-paid maternity leave thrice with one employer.

The laws give a limit of the maternity leave periods for women and also deny newly-employed women the right to maternity leave.

The Attorney-General's Office has on several occasions been slammed for alleged bungling and incompetence, which resulted in Government losing cases unnecessarily.

A few weeks ago, State counsel Happy Magadure wilfully disregarded the court's directive to put his house in order, culminating in Justice Priscilla Chigumba declaring Statutory Instrument 101A of 2016 that banned demonstrations in Harare's CBD invalid and ultra vires the Public Order and Security Act and hence the Constitution.

This was after the judge had advised the State counsel that his papers were defective as they only had the Police Commissioner-General's affidavit and not the Affidavit of the first respondent Officer Commanding Harare District, Chief Superintendent Newbert Saunyama who issued SI 101A.

Despite this, Magadure still failed to file the required affidavit. In October last year, Justice Joseph Mafusire accused the office of unprofessional conduct after its two lawyers appeared before him ill-prepared in a case they had filed.

The two lawyers were only identified as N.M. Muzuva and E. Mukucha. The duo filed an application on behalf of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission seeking to stop a former employee Sydney Ushe from attaching the body's property over outstanding benefits. Dismissing the application, Justice Mafusire said the pair had been "lackadaisical" and "sluggard" in handling the case.