John Oliver Manyarara was a judge at the High Court of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

, Judge of Appeal of the Zimbabwe Supreme Court, and Acting Judge at the High Court in Windhoek

Windhoek

Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level. The 2001 census determined Windhoek's population was 233,529...

, Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

. He was also the founding chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa

Media Institute of Southern Africa

The Media Institute of Southern Africa is a non-governmental organisation with members in 11 of the Southern Africa Development Community countries. Officially launched in September 1992, MISA focuses primarily on the need to promote free, independent and pluralistic media....

 (MISA) Trust Fund Board; an award for investigative journalism carries his name.

Biography

Manyarara graduated from Rhodes University

Rhodes University

Rhodes University is a public research university located in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, established in 1904. It is the province’s oldest university, and is one of the four universities in the province...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 with a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

. He began his career in broadcasting and journalism, and later became a barrister

Barrister

A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and in Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. He served the Zimbabwe High Court and Supreme Court before his retirement in 1994 and later moved to Namibia. There he became Acting Judge of the High Court in 2000 (judges beyond the retirement age of 65 can only be appointed into acting positions), a position he filled until his death in 2010. In this position he presided over several high-profile cases, including both parts of the Caprivi treason trial

Caprivi treason trial

The Caprivi treason trial is a trial in which the Government of Namibia indicted 132 people for allegedly participating in the Caprivi conflict on the side of the Caprivi Liberation Army in a period between 1992 and 2002...

, the largest trial in Namibian history. The John Manyarara Investigative Journalism Award by the Media Institute of Southern Africa honours his name.