President Mnangagwa Orders Inquiry Into Justice Katiyo’s Conduct

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has set up a tribunal to investigate whether High Court judge Never Katiyo should be removed from the bench over allegations of gross misconduct and several controversial court decisions.

The move follows recommendations from the Judicial Service Commission of Zimbabwe (JSC) on 14 October 2025, which advised that Justice Katiyo’s conduct should be investigated.

In a proclamation contained in Statutory Instrument 54 of 2026, President Mnangagwa said the tribunal would look into several allegations regarding the judge’s handling of several cases.

Retired judge Maphios Cheda will chair the tribunal. Its other members are legal practitioners Tafadzwa Hungwe and Chaka Mashoko. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, will serve as the tribunal’s secretary.

According to the proclamation, the inquiry will run for five months from the date the members are sworn in. Once hearings are completed, the tribunal will have 30 days to submit its report.

President Mnangagwa said the tribunal must determine whether Justice Katiyo’s conduct amounts to gross misconduct and whether he remains fit to continue serving as a judge.

The tribunal is tasked with investigating the removal from office of Justice Never Katiyo. It will also examine Justice Katiyo’s conduct to determine whether it can be considered tantamount to gross misconduct. Furthermore, the tribunal is to investigate whether Justice Katiyo engaged in any of the specific actions outlined below:

A. handed down judgment in the matter of Technoimpex JSC versus Rajendrakumar Jogi and Others HCH6784/19 on a date which was before the scheduled set down date;

B. handed down the said judgement in the absence of submissions from legal practitioners representing the parties;

C. attributed submissions to named Advocates as if they had appeared before him when that did not happen at all;

D. convened a case management meeting after receiving a complaint from the parties and during this meeting, he went on to alter the date of judgement from 4th July, 2025, to 28th July, 2025;

E. altered the date of judgement in order to spare the party intending to appeal against the judgement the need to file an application for condonation for late noting of appeal;

F. further, went on to rescind the judgement purporting that it had been erroneously entered;

G. tried to defeat the investigations after receiving the memorandum from the Chief Justice by rescinding the judgement he had passed;

H. in case No. HCHCR4331/25, granted an application for leave to Appeal which had been filed by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) before the expiry of the dies induciae for the respondents to file their opposing papers;

I. reserved judgement in case No. HCH2524/22 on 7th November, 2024 and after the lapse of nine (9) months according to the Code of Ethics he still had not handed down the judgement.

The tribunal will also take into account all information submitted by the JSC to help arrive at an appropriate recommendation to the President. It will investigate any other matter that it considers relevant to the question of a judge’s removal from office under the law.

In light of its findings, the tribunal will make a recommendation on whether Justice Katiyo is fit to continue holding office.

A written report detailing the results of the inquiry must be submitted to the President within one month of the conclusion of the hearings.