Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba will today deliver a keynote address to mark the start of the 2012 legal year at the High Court in Harare.

High-ranking government officials, members of the legal fraternity, judicial officers, diplomats and academics are expected to witness the opening.

The ceremony will run concurrently with that at Bulawayo High Court where Judge President George Chiweshe will also give a keynote address to mark the start of the legal year.

This also means that court business at magistrates' courts in both cities will briefly grind to halt as magistrates who are now under the Judicial Services Commission will also be in attendance.

The High Court in Harare has lined up some high-profile cases and 50 murder trials for the first term that ends on April 6 this year.

Officially opening the 2011 legal year in January of last year, the Chief Justice warned politicians against interfering with the courts of law.

He said the courts were not political tribunals and the Executive and the Legislature should not interfere with the Judiciary on matters pending before the courts.

This, he said, was central to the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. He said the doctrine demands that for a functional State each of the three arms must respect the constitutional sovereignty of the other two.

This came at a time when some members of the executive and legislature were attempting to arm twist the judiciary in various cases, a scourge, which seems to continue unabated.

Chief Justice Chidyausiku said the separation of powers was critical for an independent and impartial judiciary.

Among the notable cases for the first term at the High Court in Harare is the murder trial for some 19 suspected MDC-T supporters accused of murdering police Inspector Petros Mutedza in May last year.

The trial has been set to run from March 12 March 16. One of the suspects Solomon Madzore last year made several fruitless bail bids at the High Court and Supreme Court.He is still languishing in remand prison.

The six men arrested in 2007 on allegations of plotting a coup to overthrow the legitimate Government of Zimbabwe will be answering to the treason charge on January 9.

Mugove Matapo, Nyasha Zivuku, Patson Mupfure, Emmanuel Marara, Oncemore Mudzurahona and Shingirai Webster allegedly committed the offence between 2006 and 2007.

It is the State's case that they conspired to conduct a coup to oust President Mugabe and replace him with Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The fraud trial of former Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation boss Dominic Mubaiwa and Canadile Mining director Lovemore Kurotwi spilled over from last year and will continue on January 30 at the High Court.

It was stalled on some technicalities that resulted in the Attorney General's Offices preparing fresh indictment papers in respect of the two following the withdrawal of charges against some of the alleged accomplices.

Kurotwi and Mubaiwa are being accused of misrepresenting facts to Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu on the status of Core Mining resulting in the Government entering a 50-50 joint venture with the firm which did not deserve to be part of the deal.

Government, according to the State, suffered prejudice to the tune of US$33 059 406 as a result of the fraud.The High Court is set to hear 14 murder cases in Court A, 19 in Court B and 17 in Court D.Only two fraud cases and one treason will be heard at the High Court.

The previous year marked the movement of magistrates and supporting staff from the Public Service Commission's payroll to their new employer, the Judicial Service Commission.

The transfer sparked outrage and discontentment resulting in prosecutors going on strike in protest over the alleged salary discrepancies between magistrates and prosecutors who were still employed by PSC.