Iuze Mukube 

Following the recusal application that sought to prevent the late Judge Moses Chinhengo from presiding over the Fishrot matter, erst while former justice minister Sacky Shanghala has once again applied for the removal of the newly appointed Judge. 

The former Cabinet minister lodged the application yesterday with the intention for Acting Judge Marilize du Plessis to be excused from presiding over the matter. 

James Hatuikulipi is a co-applicant. 

In their notice of motion, Shanghala states that the Judge must recuse herself from hearing and presiding over the matter. 

If the application is granted, he is requesting for the criminal case to be postponed till another Judge is allocated for the matter. 

The application, as noted in the notice of motion, is based “on an apprehension of bias of the presiding Judge.” 

It is stated that the cause of the application arises from certain utterances expressed by the Judge. 

He explicitly states that the application is not prompted by malice or as a delay tactic but that it has fundamental and solid grounds that warrant the Judge’s recusal. 

He is alleging that the Judge is not impartial and that she “harbours an apprehension of bias which would result in me being denied a fair trial.” 

The first ground is that “the court has predetermined that a deliberate delay tactic exists in the case because she holds the view that the applications brought thus far by specific accused persons are  without merit.” 

He added that there is bias and partiality from the side of the court based on its haste to start the trial despite procedural omissions that implicate fair trial rights. 

On the second reason, Shanghala states that the court cannot see the State’s wrongdoing and only sees the conduct of the accused persons and that their applications are nothing more than a delay tactic. 

For the third reason, he contends that the court is biased against them, noting that it dismisses their applications on the reasoning that they are a part of a tactical delay strategy. 

He stated that the court treats the State favourably in comparison to how it treats the accused persons. 

He added that the Judge is “committing an ‘irregularity in the proceedings every minute [she] remains on the bench.” 

Du Plessis postponed the matter to 11 February 2026 to allow the State to file their notice of opposition. 

A hearing date of 9 March 2026 was given for the recusal application. 

–mukubeiuze@gmail.com