Zimbabwe opposition MPs boo Chief Justice Malaba… call him ‘a thief’

Zimbabwe’s chief justice Luke Malaba was reportedly “heckled and booed” by opposition party lawmakers as he entered the national assembly this week to swear-in parliamentary speaker Jacob Mudenda and other presiding officers.

Malaba was forced to swear-in Mudenda at least 20 minutes after entering parliament although the heckling had not subsided.

The Movement for Democratic Change lawmakers called the chief justice a “thief” after ruling against their party in the just ended election court challenge.

The southern African country’s Constitutional Court upheld President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s recent election victory after the MDC party failed to provide the court with substantial evidence

“In the final analysis, the court finds the applicant has failed to place before it clear, direct, sufficient and credible evidence” of irregularities, said Chief Justice Malaba in his ruling at the Constitutional Court in Harare last month.

“Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is duly declared winner of presidential elections held on the 30th of July 2018.”

The Zimbabwe electoral Commission (ZEC) boss, Priscilla Chigumba, who was in parliament to observe proceedings, also suffered the same fate as Chief Justice Malaba,

Chigumba, was whisked out of parliament by deputy Clerk of Parliament, Hellen Dingani, the report said.

NewsDay said that Malaba, who was clad in his full judicial robes for the swearing-in ceremony was visibly shaken.