Misihairabwi-Mushonga now a registered lawyer

ZIMBABWE's Ambassador to Sweden, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, was yesterday admitted as a lawyer of the High Court, taking the oath of loyalty and office before Justice Happias Zhou with 14 other lawyers in Harare.

All lawyers who have moved beyond their degree courses and the required post-graduate supervised experience and can practice on their own are sworn in as officers of the High Court, after taking the oath of loyalty to Zimbabwe.  Ambassador Misihairabwi-Mushonga was elated to join the profession.

"At the moment I am still an Ambassador, so I cannot go and represent anyone in court," she said.

"But it was important for me to get registered as a legal practitioner so that when I am defending women's rights, children's rights, I will be in a position to be able to do it."

Ambassador Misihairabwi-Mushonga encouraged women, particularly young women, to join the legal profession and contribute to the justice delivery system.

"I am a legal practitioner and I am going to represent those that want to get justice," she said.

 "It is important to see more women doing this work. Particularly, I want to encourage young women to stand up and get into the legal profession because we need people that are strong enough to be able to speak."

President Mnangagwa appointed Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga the country's Ambassador to Sweden in September last year.

She replaced Ambassador Alice Mashingaidze who was appointed Zimbabwe's envoy to Germany.

Before her appointment, Ambassador Misihairabwi-Mushonga was a Member of Parliament and served as the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Primary and Secondary Education and at one stage chaired the Public Accounts Committee.

She is the second opposition legislator to be appointed to the diplomatic service following the appointment of Ambassador James Maridadi as Zimbabwe's envoy to Senegal.