DESPITE the fact that Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s judicial reign is coming to an end by operation of law at midnight on 15 May 2021 when he turns 70, President Emmerson Mnangagwa wants him to stay on ahead of the 2023 elections, official sources say.
Malaba has been Mnangagwa’s long-time ally, including when he was deputising the late former president Robert Mugabe, and also while serving as Justice minister well before the November 2017 coup.
The Chief Justice has been a vital cog in Mnangagwa’s political machinery, helping him to sanitise and legitimise the coup which toppled Mugabe, and thrust him into power. Malaba has also run the judiciary in a way that has helped Mnangagwa’s regime, government insiders acknowledge.