Retired Supreme Court judge Justice Nicholas McNally who was one of Zimbabwe’s most respected judges, has died, The NewsHawks report.
The publication, however, did not indicate the cause and place of death.
McNally was among judges, mostly white, who were forced out by the late leader Robert Mugabe for ruling that the fast track land reform programme at the turn of the millennium was a violation of human rights.
While Mugabe wanted to bulldoze his violent and chaotic land reform programme through the courts, the judges insisted on the rule, property rights and due process in acquiring land for resettlement, warning that if the rule of law is trampled on the country will go to the dogs.
The judges also resisted the politicisation of the judiciary after Mugabe’s regime had allegedly started packing the Superior Court benches with government supporters and manipulating the court rolls.
Besides Nicholas McNally, some of the judges forced out by Mugabe in 2002 included David Bartlett, James Devitte, Michael Gillespie, and the internationally-respected former Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay.
Mugabe’s minister of Information, Professor Jonathan Moyo accused the judges of being political and racist hence “not worth the honour and dignity of the office.
— NewsHawks
