MASVINGO – Former High Court of Zimbabwe judge, Justice Moses Hungwe Chinhengo, has died. He was 71.
Justice Chinhengo passed away Friday morning at Masvingo Provincial Hospital, the Masvingo Mirror reported.
Justice Chinhengo, who resigned from the bench in 2009, enjoyed a distinguished legal career spanning several jurisdictions in the region. He served as an acting judge in the Court of Appeal of Lesotho and the Botswana Supreme Court, and also sat as an acting High Court judge in Namibia.
Until July this year, he was presiding over a major corruption and fraud case linked to the allocation of Namibian fishing quotas.
Tributes poured in from the legal fraternity following news of his death.
Advocate Fadzayi Mahere described him as “a fine jurist who contributed significantly to the jurisprudence of Zimbabwe and other jurisdictions in the region.”
“Appearing before him was always a gift as he required practitioners to be thoroughly prepared, rigorous and ready to answer his interventions. He will be deeply missed by the legal profession,” she said.
Advocate Thabani Mpofu hailed him as a “keen legal mind, jurist and true gentleman” who “always tried to do the right thing.”
“We frequently exchanged notes and discussed topical cases; he remained at the top of his game until his last breath… The nation has lost a fine principled gentleman.”
Namibia’s chief justice Peter Shivute described Chinhengo as “a distinguished jurist… whose legal career was marked by a principled commitment to justice anf the rule of law.”
