Zanu-PF MPs fully behind Chief Justice Bill President Mugabe
President Mugabe

President Mugabe

Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter
Zanu-PF legislators are fully behind the Constitutional amendment which seeks to empower the President to appoint the Chief Justice and at no point did they seek audience with President Mugabe over the matter.

The revolutionary party’s Chief Whip Cde Lovemore Matuke yesterday said the MPs were in support of the pending amendments and that it was not true that they had sought audience with the President.

Constitutional Amendment Number 1, which seeks to empower the President to appoint the Chief Justice instead of him or her being chosen by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) through public interviews, was gazetted last week by the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.

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The private media yesterday quoted faceless sources intimating that some Zanu-PF legislators were unhappy with the gazetted Bill.

To give credence to their story, they quoted Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo, who insinuated on his Twitter account that there was no failure on the part of drafters of the new Constitution to realise that those mandated with handling the process of choosing a new Chief Justice might turn out to be candidates for the same post.

Prof Moyo went further to disparage Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs permanent secretary Mrs Virginia Mabhiza for explaining the background necessitating the amendment.

On his Twitter account, Prof Moyo said: “It’s sinister opinion to claim that a lawful JSC process must be suspended pending vague constitutional amendment! VP (Emmerson) Mnangagwa has made it clear on the record that a lawful JSC process is separate from constitutional amendment!” Prof Moyo claimed.

He described Mrs Mabhiza’s explanation as “disingenuous” or as someone pushing a political agenda.

But Cde Matuke said Zanu-PF legislators were fully behind the proposed amendment.

He said contrary to private media reports, they were not seeking audience with President Mugabe over the matter as they fully appreciated the oversight made by the drafters of the new constitution that senior judiciary members who should steer the process of choosing the Chief Justice might end up interested in the same post.

“We have not arranged that (meeting with President Mugabe). I think there was a problem on the issue of the appointment of the Chief Justice that the people who should conduct the interviews are the same people who applied for the same job and that was an error,” he said.

“It was an oversight on the part of the drafters and it is really a technical issue where as Parliament, we are saying you cannot interview yourself or even a subordinate cannot interview his or her superior.

“On the issue of seeking audience with the President, it’s not true. I have never heard of that. We absolutely have no problem with the proposed amendment to the Constitution and remember we are dealing with a new Constitution and when it is put into practice, you will note that there are a lot of loopholes that we have to correct like the appointment of Chief Justice.

“The President has to be given powers to appoint the Chief Justice because no one should interview himself or herself to get a job. We do not differ with the Ministry of Justice on that matter and remember the chief whip takes instructions from the party.

“The Minister of Justice is our leader of the House and we are his subordinates and he will give us the final direction of Zanu-PF on the matter.”

Government on December 23 gazetted Constitutional Amendment Bill (Number 1) which seeks to change the supreme law by providing that the President appoints the Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice and Judge President of the High Court.

The Bill followed weeks of debate on the provision in the Constitution, which took away the President’s powers to appoint people to the three crucial positions.

The Constitution provides that the President appoints the Chief Justice from a list given to him by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

The proposed law to be known as Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill (Number 1) is contained in an Extraordinary Government Gazette published on Friday last week.

The proposed amendments will substitute Section 180 of the Constitution, which provides for the appointment of judges.

Clause Six of the Bill amends Section 180 of the present Constitution by providing that the President’s choice of Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice and Judge President of the High Court be final, should there be differences of choices between his nominee and those recommended by JSC.

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