Advocate Mpofu commends Advocate Uriri’s rejection of Chivayo’s “vuvuzela gift”

Advocate Thabani Mpofu has commended Advocate Lewis Uriri for rejecting a public gift from socialite Wicknell Chivayo.

Chivayo had offered Uriri a brand-new 2026 Range Rover Sport Autobiography valued at US$250,000, US$50,000 in cash for fuel, and a further US$50,000 for his wife, Mrs Uriri, as a “handbag allowance”.

Uriri rejected the gifts, citing Zimbabwe’s Legal Practitioners’ Code of Conduct, which requires lawyers to preserve their integrity, safeguard their professional independence and maintain public confidence in the profession.

He said the principles of the International Bar Association and the writings of the International Commission of Jurists likewise emphasise that a lawyer’s judgement must remain independent and free from conflicting personal interests.

Uriri said he considered it necessary to decline benefits that “could reasonably create a perception of personal financial obligation extending beyond a concluded and fully remunerated professional engagement”.

Responding to the decision, Mpofu said Uriri’s stance was a matter of the highest importance and should not pass without emphatic commendation.

“Lewis Uriri’s decision to disclaim Wicknell Chivayo’s public gift is a matter of the highest importance, and it must not pass without emphatic commendation. As I have always said, some decisions matter. This is one of them,” he said.

Mpofu said it was important to understand who Uriri is. He said he is one of Zimbabwe’s most senior Advocates — an Advocate, not an Attorney — and the two are distinct branches of the profession; not every lawyer is an Advocate.

“Among Advocates who remain actively engaged in practice, Lewis is the most senior. There are, of course, eminent Advocates such as Eric Matinenga who are no longer practising with the same intensity and I deliberately exclude them from my characterisation. By seniority of call to the Bar, I rank immediately after Lewis,” he said.

That context, he said, matters. Uriri’s decision to disclaim what he described as a “vuvuzela gift” from a former client was not merely an act of personal moral courage.

“It is the legal profession, at its highest litigation levels, choosing independence over convenience and principle over gain. It is a declaration that the profession still recognises that some things matter more than money, comfort or personal need; indeed, an affirmation that principles are more important than needs,” Mpofu said.

“I see in this an assurance that these ideals that became our profession are still front and centre of decision-making in some amongst us.”

He said Uriri had sent a clear message to the profession and to the country that principles are not ornaments to be invoked when convenient.

“They are obligations to be honoured, especially when doing so carries a cost, even when that cost is an Autobiography. His example reminds us that professional independence is not an abstract ideal. It is tested precisely when accepting would be easier than refusing,” he said.

Mpofu said the timing was also significant, coming against a backdrop where religious organisations had abandoned their moral responsibilities, leaving the country without the leadership and courage it has a right to expect.

“What Lewis has done therefore carries significance far beyond the immediate discussion. It says that when some people refuse to stand, others will still be found who are willing to do what is right,” he said.

“Others have chosen one course. Lewis has chosen another and, in doing so, he has answered a legitimate public yearning for a breath of fresh air. We are not as morally beyond the pale as some may think.

“Among us, a remnant remains: people who will still choose principle over gain, independence over influence, and what is right over what is easy. Zimbabwe may, after all, still be saved.”