Opinion / Columnist
Mahere is a criminal practitioner who ought to be struck off
9 hrs ago | Views
The default order in Mahere v Kudzayi rests not on merit but on a single demonstrable falsehood.
In her condonation application, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere swore, under oath, that when the matter was struck off for inactivity, she had already applied for a pre-trial conference and was merely "awaiting a date", insisting that the case was "ripe for set-down".
The High Court record shows no such application. The Rule 49 documents that must accompany a pre-trial-conference request are absent; that silence is conclusive evidence of fabrication. Mahere's misrepresentation revived litigation the Court had twice struck off, leaving the ensuing default judgement a procedural shell built on perjury.
When I speak of criminal judges in the High Court, the conduct of Justice Wamambo illustrates the corruption I condemn. You must condemn it too.
On 5 March, I sent him a letter by DHL, which his office signed for. In that letter, now released for public inspection, I warned that the proceedings were grounded in fraud and that no lawful basis existed for him to let the matter continue unless he was complicit.
After acknowledging receipt, he remained silent. Staff later told me he claimed not to have read the letter. What sort of judge signs for a document and then professes ignorance of its contents? A shameless judge without honour.
For clarity, the letter stated:
• No application for a pre-trial conference was ever filed.
• The applicant's sworn claim to the contrary constitutes perjury, nullifying the condonation and every step that followed.
This feigned ignorance was not Justice Wamambo's first illicit act in aid of Mahere. Earlier, he let her bypass the mandatory round-table meeting at which litigants agree the issues for trial. Had that meeting occurred, her perjury would have entered the record. To shield his favourite, he permitted her to cheat, dispensing with the meeting without justification.
These are criminal acts.
That episode is past. We now enter the real legal contest in Zimbabwe's High Court, where the maxim fraus omnia vitiat: fraud vitiates everything admits no exception; a judgment raised on deceit cannot stand.
Accordingly, I shall lodge an urgent application for rescission.
Celebrations are premature. Advocate Mahere is a criminal practitioner who ought to be struck off. The substantive battle has yet to begin, and when it does, the record will show that the only issue is her fabrication, not my liability.
In her condonation application, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere swore, under oath, that when the matter was struck off for inactivity, she had already applied for a pre-trial conference and was merely "awaiting a date", insisting that the case was "ripe for set-down".
The High Court record shows no such application. The Rule 49 documents that must accompany a pre-trial-conference request are absent; that silence is conclusive evidence of fabrication. Mahere's misrepresentation revived litigation the Court had twice struck off, leaving the ensuing default judgement a procedural shell built on perjury.
When I speak of criminal judges in the High Court, the conduct of Justice Wamambo illustrates the corruption I condemn. You must condemn it too.
On 5 March, I sent him a letter by DHL, which his office signed for. In that letter, now released for public inspection, I warned that the proceedings were grounded in fraud and that no lawful basis existed for him to let the matter continue unless he was complicit.
For clarity, the letter stated:
• No application for a pre-trial conference was ever filed.
• The applicant's sworn claim to the contrary constitutes perjury, nullifying the condonation and every step that followed.
This feigned ignorance was not Justice Wamambo's first illicit act in aid of Mahere. Earlier, he let her bypass the mandatory round-table meeting at which litigants agree the issues for trial. Had that meeting occurred, her perjury would have entered the record. To shield his favourite, he permitted her to cheat, dispensing with the meeting without justification.
These are criminal acts.
That episode is past. We now enter the real legal contest in Zimbabwe's High Court, where the maxim fraus omnia vitiat: fraud vitiates everything admits no exception; a judgment raised on deceit cannot stand.
Accordingly, I shall lodge an urgent application for rescission.
Celebrations are premature. Advocate Mahere is a criminal practitioner who ought to be struck off. The substantive battle has yet to begin, and when it does, the record will show that the only issue is her fabrication, not my liability.
Source - Edmund Kudzayi
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