Zione Ntaba

Last updated

Zione Ntaba
Born (1978-04-11) 11 April 1978 (age 47)
Education University of Malawi, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London
OccupationHigh Court Judge

Zione Jane Veronica Ntaba (born 11 April 1978) is a Malawian High Court judge. She leads the legal support group Justice Advocacy Africa in Malawi.

Life

Ntabe was born in 1978. She studied law at the University of Malawi and in 2007 she obtained a masters degree in Advanced Legislative Drafting from the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London, [1]

In 2009 she was in America taking a course organised by Justice Advocacy Africa at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. [2]

She became a High Court Judge on 19 June 2013. [1]

In 2019 she was one of nine women who were judges in Malawi, the others were Jane Ansah who later became Vice President of Malawi, Dorothy Kamanga, Ivy Kamanga, Rachel Sophie Sikwese, Annabel Mtalimanja, Fiona Mwale and Ruth Chinangwa. [3] Ntaba had to recuse herself from a case she was judging in 2019 concerning the murder of an albino man, MacDonald Masambuka. [4] Testimony given by one of the accused was that the murder was the idea of Peter Mutharika and Hetherwick Ntaba. Mutharika was a previous President of Malawi at the time and Hetherwick Ntaba was her father's brother. [5] (The case was later judged by Dorothy Kamanga). [6]

Ntaba is involved with Justice Advocacy Africa since it began in 2009 and its pro bono work to further justice in Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, and Botswana. She is the Program Director for Malawi and she is a member of their board. [2]

In 2022 the Lands Minister Kezzie Msukwa was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau while he was receiving treatment at a hospital. He applied for a judicial review and Ntaba set aside the arrest, but she did not grant the review. Her decision created some debate and the Malawi Law Society issued a statement which was interpreted at a rebuke of her action. They argued that if there was no review then an arrest could not be set aside. [7]

References

  1. 1 2 Malawi Judiciary Annual Report 2022 (PDF). Malawi: Malawi Judiciary. 2023.
  2. 1 2 Broughton, Alice (14 February 2025). "Zione Ntaba, Justice Advocacy Africa, Malawi". Irish Rule of Law International. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  3. ↑ Mlanjira, Duncan (9 May 2019). "High Court Judge Fiona Mwale joins elite list of Kamuzu Academy Sports Day guests of honour" (PDF). Maravi Express. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
  4. ↑ "Malawi: High Profile Murder Case of Person With Albinism Stalls". allAfrica.com. Archived from the original on 12 June 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  5. ↑ "Malawi's Ex-President Under Investigation in Albino Man's Murder". Voice of America. 7 July 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  6. ↑ "Malawi men jailed over murder of man with albinism". BBC News. 27 June 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  7. ↑ Bengo, Cyrus (2 January 2022). "Malawi Law Society faults Judge Ntaba's ruling". Malawi 24. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.