By Tadi Choto
Some seven ladies from the Dominican Convent, alongside two Midlands Christian College students , one Peterhouse boys student and one Arundel Girls High School student in April were invited to join the first ever Zimbabwe High School’s Moot Court Team .
The High School Moot International Criminal Court (ICC) Competition is designed to introduce high school students to the work of the International Criminal Court and how important international human rights issues are dealt with in an international criminal justice context.
The moot itself is a simulation of what occurs in the ICC with closed-research, legal sources, case law, journal articles, and factual information being provided to students.
Students then moot four times, twice on prosecution and twice on defense and though the rules of the competition do not perfectly mirror the ICC’s Rules of Procedure, the competition is structured to provide a realistic and practical experience.
Training began immediately and the team was graciously hosted by the Dominican convent High School Harare who provided the facilities for training such as Wi-Fi, printing facilities and even overnight Accommodation.
This being the first ever Zimbabwean moot court team training was rigorous and thorough to ensure that all team members were well versed in both the case and the law necessary for the moots to come.
The team consists of 9 ladies and two gentlemen, seven of those ladies currently attend the Dominican Convent with five being in lower six, namely Ruvimbo Simbi (who is team captain), Kudzaishe Makoni, Chiyevo Mukonoweshuro, Rosa Choto-Gwisai and Selumli Thulo, one being in Sixth Form, Tadiwanashe Choto and our youngest member being in form two, Palesa Sigauke.
The two other ladies are both in sixth form, with Hazel Chiige currently in her last year at Arundel Highschool and Sharon Marangwanda hailing from Midlands Christian College. Of the two gentlemen, Karl Makahamadze is currently in sixth form at Midlands Christian College and Kuziva Kulheya is in lower six at Peterhouse Boys.
All team members have extensive international debate and public speaking experience and knowledge with most members having competed and won tournaments at an international level, three of the team members namely Sharon M, Hazel C and Karl M, are members of the Zimbabwe national debate team.
Training occurred everyday from the 27th of May to the 14th of May with the Moot Court Team Coach grilling and drilling the team of the technicalities of moot court and Coach Richard who is the Dominican convent debate coach helping to form ideas and arguments with the team. Ms Paundi, the team Matriach, was a steady presence making sure that communication between the team flowed seamlessly and more importantly and most importantly that we were all well nourished.
The long training hours and countless sleepless nights finally came to fruition when we dressed in our national kit and faced our first competitor, Romania.
The ease and confident nature of the team was the pace set up for the rest of the competition and the team managed to not only impress all those who had invested and shown support but the organizers themselves through their natural confidence, in depth analysis and level of reasoning and display of knowledge of the law and the case.
The judges were continuously astounded by the arguments brought about by the team and by the end of the second round, the team received news that they were making history once again by being the first and only African Country to be invited to the European Moot Court with most expenses being paid by the organizers.
The team would not have made it thus far without the support of Sr Kudzaishe Mutsure, head of the Dominican High School, for her active assistance and support from the beginning of the journey to the victory.
Our heartfelt gratitude to the heads of Peterhouse, Midlands Christian College and Arundel for making provision for the team members to participate, to the talented tailor Mr Simon who outfitted the winning team, our peers and all members of the various student bodies for the encouragement and teachers and various administrations for their support and last but certainly not least the parents who gave us unceasing support.
NOTE: Tadi Choto is the schools cultural director.
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