Bharatkumar "Bharat" Patel (born 16 April 1952) is a

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

an judge who has served on the

Supreme Court of Zimbabwe The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe is the highest court of order and the final court of appeal in Zimbabwe. The judiciary is headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who, like the other justices, is appointed by the President on the advice o ...

since 2013.

Education

Patel was born on 16 April 1952 in

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

(today

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

). He attended Louis Mountbatten School, a government school in Salisbury. He received his secondary education at two private schools,

Peterhouse Boys' School , location = , province = Mashonaland East , country = Zimbabwe , coordinates = , type = Independent, boarding, high school , denomination = Anglican , patron = Saint Peter , founded = 1955 , founder = Fred Snell , sister_school = Pet ...

and St. George's College. He completed his legal training at the

University of Rhodesia The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. ...

in 1975 and subsequently departed for England, where he qualified as a barrister at

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

and obtained his master's degree in law from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

.List of Designated Persons: Special Economic Measures (Zimbabwe) Regulations
", Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, updated 17 July 2009.

Career background

Patel began his career in 1978 in the London para-legal sector, with the Greater London Citizens Advice Bureaux Service, focusing on civil rights, employment and social welfare law. In 1982 he returned to Zimbabwe and joined government service as legal counsel performing advisory and representative duties in matters of public law and international law. From 1993 he headed the Division of Legal Advice in the Attorney-General's Office of Zimbabwe until he was appointed to the position of Deputy

Attorney General of Zimbabwe The Office of the Attorney-General of Zimbabwe (AG) falls under the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs of Zimbabwe. In November 2013, the prosecuting and government advisory roles of the Attorney-General were split under the new C ...

in August 2000. In April 2003 he assumed the post of Acting Attorney-General after the resignation of Andrew Chigovera. In December 2004 Patel was appointed to the bench in the High Court of Zimbabwe, and assumed judicial duties in January 2005. From December 2007 to December 2008 he was temporarily re-appointed to the post of Acting Attorney-General, following the suspension and removal from office of the previous incumbent, Sobuza Gula-Ndebele. In May 2013 Patel was appointed to the

as Judge of Appeal. He was simultaneously appointed to the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe by virtue of certain transitional provisions in the new Constitution of Zimbabwe which came into operation in May 2013. He was sworn in, alongside fellow Justice Ben Hlatshwayo, by President

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the ...

at State House in Harare on 22 May 2013.

References

1952 births Living people Alumni of Peterhouse Boys' School Zimbabwean Hindus 20th-century Zimbabwean lawyers Attorneys-General of Zimbabwe Zimbabwean people of Indian descent Judges of the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe University of Zimbabwe alumni Alumni of University College London Alumni of St. George's College, Harare Zimbabwean expatriates in England 21st-century Zimbabwean judges {{africa-law-bio-stub