3 Million Voices
Ultimately the amendment means
that members of the judiciary will be
solely answerable to the President
and this seriously undermines the
principle of separation of powers.
On 20 April 2021, the Parliament of Zimbabwe overwhelmingly voted for the second Amendment
to the Zimbabwe Constitution.
This signaled a major shift in the way the country is to be governed going forward as the
Amendments will give more power to the executive, take away the independence of the judiciary,
and undermine the role of Parliament as an arm of government. History therefore noted a dark
day for Zimbabwe and a major dent to aspirations of Zimbabwe becoming democratic beyond just
political rhetoric.
As part of the Amendment, the President can now appoint judges without having them go
through a public interview process, which interviews were beginning to foster transparency.
Ultimately the amendment means that members of the judiciary will be solely answerable to the
President and this seriously undermines the principle of separation of powers.
In addition, it will mean that members of the judiciary will not be appointed on merit, and neither
will they go through scrutiny by the public before being appointed.
The Amendment will significantly alter the state of the office of the Vice-President, who is the
second-highest ranking political official in Zimbabwe and is supposed to perform the duties of the
President when he or she is absent or otherwise unable to exercise their duties.
Through Amendment Number 2, the President will have higher authority to appoint and remove
and control Vice Presidents.
This will leave the Vice Presidents to serve at the mercy of the President for fear of being removed
and again, it undermines the concept of democracy as espoused in the running mate system that
the 2013 Constitution had ushered in.
Through this Amendment, the President will have room to appoint more ministers and deputy
ministers that are not in parliament from the current five to seven.
On closer scrutiny, this change provides the President with greater powers as he will have more
influence in bringing into the executive unelected officials and this can have consequences on the
level of representative politics in Zimbabwe.
However, if this is done properly, it means that the President has more capacity to bring into
government suitably qualified ministers to specific portfolios that require technical expertise.
The Amendments also seek to create the office of a Public Protector who will be appointed by the
President and will conduct, among others, the following duties:
•
To undertake investigations into administrative actions taken by officers, persons, or
authorities who are part of any Ministry or department;
•
To investigate where it is alleged that a person has suffered an injustice, and it is unlikely
that judicial remedies will be available to that person. This function was previously assigned to the
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) provided by Section 243(1)(e) of the Constitution;
and
•
To investigate cases where a person, authority, offender, or officer is acting on behalf of
the State or a public institution.
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