President Lazarus Chakwera, the Judiciary and the Malawi Law Society (MLS) have mourned Justice of Appeal Duncan Tambala SC (retired) who died on Thursday as great legal mind.
Tambala, who passed away at the age of 78, was laid to rest with military honours yesterday at Henry Henderson Institute cemetery following a funeral service at his residence and church service at St Michael and All Angels Church in Blantyre.
In his condolence message shared by the State House, President Chakwera said Tambala served Malawi with distinction.
Reads the message in part: “His passing leaves a void in the country’s judicial landscape. May his memory be a blessing to our nationhood.”
In remarks posted on the Judiciary website, Deputy Chief Justice Lovemore Chikopa, who worked with the late Tambala for some years, described the fallen jurist as an open-minded person.
“He was not one to hide his views. As a judge, he was above all else a wise man. Very realistic,” he said.
On her part, Justice of Appeal Dorothy nyaKaunda Kamanga, SC said she will remember Tambala for bringing to the fore the importance of the need to comply with civil procedures when he determined that it is wrong to bring an application for interlocutory injunction in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
She further said that Tambala had passion for criminal justice and the right to a fair trial as demonstrated in the Namasasu v Republic [1991] case.
Said Kamanga: “[Tambala] was among the panel of Justices of Appeal who warned against the danger of convicting the accused on the uncorroborated evidence of an accomplice.
“In this case, the SCA determined that a judge’s failure to examine critically and weigh carefully conflicting evidence constitutes a grave error which tends to produce a miscarriage of justice.”
Speaking in an interview yesterday, MLS president Patrick Mpaka described Tambala as a legal icon who represents a crop of the Supreme Court which stabilised the law in Malawi because of the quality, integrity, depth of thought as well the level and profundity of engagement with issues and with the members of the profession when processing appeals.
He said: “Some of the longest standing and reliable legal precedents that we faithfully refer to in our work today were decided by this crop of Justices of Appeal.
“There is no doubt that everyone now and in future practising law in Malawi both at the Bench and at the Bar has a lot to learn from the life and contribution of this kind of legal icon.”
Tambala served as a judge of the Malawi SCA for 14 years and as a judge of the High Court for nine years.
Before becoming a judge, he worked as a resident magistrate, chief State advocate and chief public prosecutor in the Ministry of Justice.
On the international scene, Tambala worked for six years as a judge at the African Court in Arusha, Tanzania and three years as a judge of the Comesa Court in Zambia.
The late Tambala was born on June 28 1946 and is survived by his wife, four children and seven grandchildren.
He hailed from Masikila Village, T/A Kadewere in Chiradzulu District.
