First woman to serve as judge of Namibia’s High Court and Supreme Court dies

Judge Mavis Gibson, who was the first woman to serve as a full-time judge of Namibia’s High Court, has died after a period of illness.

Gibson, who was a Zimbabwean national, died on 21 May.

“At the time of her retirement in 2008, justice Gibson held the distinction of being the longest-serving judge of the High Court of Namibia, having contributed immensely to the growth of jurisprudence and the strengthening of judicial integrity in Namibia,” chief justice Peter Shivute said in a statement by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) on Tuesday.

Gibson is further known for making history in her home country as the first black woman appointed as judge of the High Court of Zimbabwe, Shivute noted.

Gibson was appointed as a full-time judge of Namibia’s High Court in December 1995. At that time, and for several years thereafter, she was Namibia’s only woman judge.

She was appointed as an acting judge of appeal of Namibia’s Supreme Court in August 1999, and was also the first woman to serve in that capacity, Shivute noted.

“On behalf of the judiciary of Namibia, the Judicial Service Commission, and the staff of the Office of the Judiciary, and indeed on my own behalf, I extend our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family of the late justice Gibson, to the judiciary of Zimbabwe, and to the people of Zimbabwe on the loss of a trailblazer and judicial icon of both Zimbabwe and Namibia,” Shivute said in the JSC’s statement.

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