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Adv Goba

Fidelis Munyoro Chief Court Reporter
The Judicial Service Commission has re-opened the nomination process to choose a suitable candidate to fill the position of the Prosecutor-General following the reversal of the appointment of Advocate Ray Goba.

President Mugabe, through a Government Gazette Extraordinary Notice Number 642 of 2017 last week, repealed an earlier notice announcing the appointment of Adv Goba.

In an advert calling for nominations on Sunday, the JSC said the decision to re-open the nomination process came after President Mugabe found that none of the candidates on the list was suitable for appointment to the esteemed office.

“Following interviews in public on 21 August 2017 of prospective candidates for the position of the Prosecutor-General and the subsequent submission to the President of a list of three persons in terms of Section 180 (4)(e) of the Constitution, the President has informed the Judicial Service Commission that he has considered the list and has found none of the persons on the list suitable for appointment to the office,” read the advert

To enable it to compile another list, it is necessary for the Judicial Service Commission to commence the procedure set out in Section 180 (4) as read with Section 259 (3) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

“Members of the public are accordingly hereby invited to nominate suitable persons to fill the position.”

The JSC also said members of the public intending to nominate candidates can obtain nomination forms from the JSC’s offices at Old Supreme Court Building, Corner Kwame Nkurume Avenue/Third Street or at the office of any provincial magistrates in charge of a province or JSC website www.jsc.org.zw.

According to the Extraordinary Government Gazette published last week, General Notice 642 of 2017 repealed General Notice 493 of 2017, which announced the appointment of Adv Goba to the esteemed office on September 13 this year.

“It is hereby notified that the captioned General Notice (493 of 2017) that was published in the Gazette Extraordinary on the 13th September, 2017 is repealed,” said the notice.

Adv Goba had, however, not taken up office as he was not yet sworn-in. According to Section 259 (6) of the Constitution, “before taking up office, the Prosecutor-General must take, before the President or a person authorised by the President, the oath of office in the form set out in the Third Schedule”.