Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
Harare, Zimbabwe
Musa completed an LLM in 2017, and holds an LLB (summa cum laude) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. He is currently completing a PhD in Public Law at the University of Cape Town.
Musa will be joining the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) in Harare, Zimbabwe to do election-related human rights litigation. Zimbabwe finds itself in a precarious governance complexity, with government-sponsored human rights abuses spiking during election season. In 2018 the country goes for harmonized elections, and slowly human rights abuses involving the security apparatus and political party functionaries are on the rise. Musa will work with ZLHR in-house and network lawyers in litigating these issues under the organization’s Human Rights Defenders (HRD) project which focuses on protecting through litigation and legal services individuals who are identified by ZHLR as human rights defenders – fellow lawyers, journalists, activists, politicians, civil society practitioners, academics and similarly situated citizens who fall victim to human rights abuses.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human rights is Zimbabwe’s premier human rights organization and for the last two decades, has been at the forefront of fostering a culture of human rights in Zimbabwe. ZLHR works to advance respect for the rule of law and the unimpeded administration of justice, free and fair elections, the free flow of information and the protection of constitutional rights and freedoms in Zimbabwe and the surrounding region. The ZLHR is a recipient of the US State Department’s Freedom Defender’s Award for exceptional courage and leadership in the defense of human rights, and Canada’s John Humphrey Freedom Award for courageous pursuit of justice for victims of human rights abuses inside Zimbabwe and for a leading role in the promotion and protection of human rights. The ZLHR holds Observer Status with the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, provides secretarial services to the Human Rights Committee of the SADC Lawyers Association and has affiliate status with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).
Previously, Musa has worked for Justice for Children in Harare in research, lobby and advocacy, and has clerked for a Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa. He has also clerked for the Chief Justice and Judges of Appeal at the Supreme Court of Namibia, Windhoek, and most recently worked with the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit in Cape Town as a legal researcher on judicial governance matters in Africa. He plans a career in human rights and constitutional litigation as well as consultancy on African governance and constitutional issues.