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Leroy Dzenga
Seven days ago, the Zimbabwean flag flew the highest in Arusha Tanzania. It was waving in its colourful glory in honour of three Zimbabweans, all students from Great Zimbabwe University.

The trio comprising of Makomborero Muropa, Ashley Muza and Kundiso Rusike had pulled perhaps the greatest feat in their journeys as aspiring lawyers. By any measure, winning the All Africa International Humanitarian Law Moot Court is an achievement that warrant national attention.

Their victory has since been heralded, with the victors already in the country. Before the glowing tribute, the students walked a gruelling path. Speaking to The Herald after their arrival in Zimbabwe, one of the participants and former Harare Junior Councillor Makomborero Muropa said they followed a strict preparation regiment in the run up to the competitions.

“Weeks leading to the competition, we would meet up four times a week doing research and sharing on what we would have found concerning the many topics under International Humanitarian Law,” Muropa said.

Preparation did not eliminate elements of surprise as they had to think on their feet throughout the tournament. “During the competition, preparation time was very limited.

The competition began with five preliminary rounds in which we had only 1 hour 30 minutes to prepare meaningful arguments and representations of our clients after being given the facts for the day. During semi-finals, we got facts the night before, and during the finals, we only had three hours to prepare,” said Muropa.

Another of the team, Ashley Muza believes they left Arusha richer. To them, they had an opportunity to test the continental relevance of their degree programme.

“Standing in front of highly esteemed judges from the African court on human and people`s rights taught us great advocacy skills. Meeting with people from different facets of life, cultures, and jurisdictions was one among highlights of the experience.

Imagine meeting someone from Rwanda where most International Humanitarian Law cases were and are still dealt with at the Rwanda Tribunal or from South Sudan where armed conflict occurred and they had to share their understanding of the law to what they have seen,” Muza said.

Completing the trio’s testaments, Kundiso Rusike said they understood that they were representing not only themselves, but their institution and country when they were competing.

“The victory is validation, it shows that as a law school we are just as good as other law schools. It shows how far one can go with faith,” said Rusike.

Up to now, the triumph is still replaying in their minds bringing with it an element of disbelief. Great Zimbabwe University Vice Chancellor Professor Rungano Zvobgo seems to agree.

“This victory could not have come at a better time, we just graduated our first law class and this performance is confirmation that we are doing something right.

We will continue to work hard to ensure that Great Zimbabwe University continues to make the country proud through its products,” Prof Zvobgo said.

This victory has been a long time coming for the institution which in February took the runners up prize at the African regional rounds of the Price Media Law Moot Court Competition in Johannesburg, South Africa. In April, they came 19th out of 700 law schools from all over the world at the Phillip C. Jessup Moot Court Competition.