Audio: Justice Euna Makamure interview for Supreme Court

The following is the audio of the public interview that Labour Court judge Euna Makamure was subjected to by a panel of the Judicial Service Commission last month that was led by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku.

In some of the embarrassing exchanges Justice Makamure was forced to admit that she did not know the difference between an “action” and an “application” in civil cases, had never handled a single divorce case in her career and had been skipped for promotion in the last decade by her juniors but she insisted she was eligible to be on the Supreme Court bench.

“I will learn on the bench and I’m willing to read,” she said. In response, Justice Chidyausiku said: “Don’t you think you have to go to the High Court first and learn better there? The question was elementary and who do you think will teach you at the Supreme Court?”

The Chief Justice then asked her why she had not been promoted all these years. “I was appointed at the pleasure of the President and probably he still wanted me to be at the Labour Court,” she retorted upon which Chidyausiku asked: “How will you then handle an appeal divorce case? No one has the time on the bench to teach you that.”

Justices Chinembiri Bhunu, Charles Kunofiwei Hungwe, Samuel Kudya, Lavender Makoni, Happias Zhou, Susan Mavangira, Nicholas Mathonsi, Tendai Uchena (all from the High Court) and Labour Court judges Justices Euna Makamure and Mercy Moya-Matshanga all battled it out at a Harare hotel in front of the panel.