Thin plastics case awaits Chief Justice’s nod

By Pemphero Malimba:

Progression of the thin plastics case depends on Chief Justice (CJ) Rizine Mzikamanda, who is expected to certify it.

This comes after, in June this year, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed a case in which some thin plastics companies, led by Golden Plastics Limited, were battling with the Ministry of Natural Resources on the issue of enforcement of the thin plastics ban.

However, before the ministry was scheduled to resume enforcement of the regulations, on July 9 2024, eleven companies— which were new parties to the case—were granted permission to apply for judicial review of the matter by High Court Judge Simeon Mdeza.

Last month, lawyer representing the companies Wapona Kita told The Daily Times that their move was premised on the fact that the ministry had flouted procedures when coming up with the regulations.

And, speaking to The Daily Times yesterday, Ministry of Justice spokesperson Frank Namangale said the future of the case lied in the hands of the CJ.

“On the thin plastics case, the legal State team, being led by Senior Counsel Kalekeni Kaphale, immediately filed an application in the High Court of Malawi to vacate the leave for judicial review granted by that court. But the High Court judge said there was nothing he could do because he had already referred the matter to the Chief Justice for certification as a constitutional matter.

“So, the State legal team wrote the Chief Justice and asked him to send the file back to the High Court where we want our application to vacate the order of granting the leave for judicial review heard. So as things stand, we are waiting for the Chief Justice’s action; [that is], if he agrees with our request, to send the file back to the High Court judge,” he said.

Supreme Court of Appeal and High Court acting Registrar Innocent Nebi justified the legality of taking a case which was already determined by the Supreme Court.

“If the parties are different and the issues to be decided are different, then I don’t see any problem when the matters are starting all over but in this context (the current case) I am not sure if the applicants that started the case are the same,” Nebi said.