What is important now is to strengthen the judiciary, rather than this very obvious attempt to weaken it.
Source: Manipulation of Chief Justice appointment dangerous – NewsDay Zimbabwe December 13, 2016
NEWSDAY COMMENT
Never mind that it is cloaked as rule of law and court appeals, it looks like someone is afraid that their preferred candidate will not make the cut and they want to throw the spanners in the works of the interviews.
Our judiciary is not the strongest, but it has shown some semblance of independence and this sends a chill down the spines of some people, who want to control every facet of our lives.
What is important now is to strengthen the judiciary, rather than this very obvious attempt to weaken it.
One characteristic of poor and failed states is weak institutions and if we have hope that Zimbabwe will one day be salvaged, there is need to protect the judiciary and the Constitution.
This may seem like an abstract issue, which does not affect people’s daily lives, but this is one of the most fundamental things and our future growth and prosperity as a nation rest on what will happen following these lawsuits and court hearings.
The Constitution is very clear on what should happen in the appointment of a Chief Justice and we all celebrated when the charter was signed into law a few years ago.
It is important that we take that same celebratory fervour into defending our Constitution, because if this fails, the country is eternally doomed.
The executive has no role to play in the appointment of judges — that is how checks and balances work.
Justice ministry permanent secretary, Virginia Mabhiza is leading the assault on our Constitution and judiciary by saying there are efforts to amend the charter based on a Cabinet memorandum and we have not heard it brought to Parliament where all laws are made.
What Mabhiza should have been doing is defending the charter against Romeo Zibani’s lawsuit, but instead she wanted it to succeed, much to the detriment our democracy.
If Mabhiza thought there was need to amend the Constitution, why did she wait until Zibani’s lawsuit? Or why did she not make her objections to the selection of the Chief Justice during the constitution-making exercise?
The coincidence of claims of a planned constitutional amendment and Zibani’s lawsuit is too striking to miss.
The country is on a precipice, if the Constitution is amended now, to suit the whims of a narrow clique, then we could as well start writing Zimbabwe’s epitaph, because this is a point of no return.
COMMENTS
What else would you expect from zpf?
Not content with capturing and hollowing out all institutions of the state, this mendacious cabal wishes to deny the population even the semblance of fairness under the law by making the judiciary totally beholden to them. No shame, no conscience, no compassion- the state is controlled by sociopaths.
This ruling cabal-nothing elite about them – is adept at setting up false flag operations to get their preferred outcome so false flag lawsuit not surprising rather it is predictable. Time for voters to ask themselves ‘who benefits?’ before believing any person’s move in the high stakes game for total control of the state.
Now we know who to be afraid of, who not to trust, and who has utter disregard for the vision and will of the nation as enshrined in the Constitution.
NATIVES HAVE NO ETHICS NOR MORAL CAMPUSES! GOD SAVE ZIMBABWE!