Nguni castigates drafters

country’s proposed new supreme law seeks to strip the Presidency of powers and undermines the role of service chiefs.
In an interview yesterday nfgo president Mr Goodson Nguni said the draft Constitution gives most executive functions to Parliament rendering the Government arm a figurehead of Parliament. He criticised the inclusion of a schedule which provides that every appointment of senior Government officials such as cabinet ministers, judges, service chiefs among others be approved by Parliament.
The schedule provides as follows: “Where the National Assembly or the Parliamentary Public Appointments Committee is required to approve the appointment of any person in terms of this Constitution, the appointee does not assume office until his or her appointment has been so approved.”
“The MDC-T seeks to achieve what they have failed to do through an election, that is removing Zanu-PF from power, they can do it using the Constitution,” said Mr Nguni.
“For example they are attempting to reverse the Land Reform Programme by making Zimbabweans agree that the Land Commission be appointed through Parliament that is taking away the politics on the land question.”
He said the draft confers unprecedented powers to Parliament through the Sixth Schedule that empowers it to approve any appointments.
“But the problem with that is Parliament is not composed of lawyers, but has stone throwers, rank marshals that have been seconded by the MDC-T to Parliament. We cannot have our judges being appointed by these people,” he said.
According to 6:15 “The President nominates and, with the approval of the National Assembly, appoints Ministers and assigns functions to them, including the administration of any Act of Parliament or of any Ministry or department.”
The draft also creates a Constitutional Court and Court of Appeal as separate institutions with a Chief Justice and Judge President respectively.
This, according to Mr Nguni, means that sitting judges cease to hold office as they will have to apply to sit on these new creatures. The draft also empowers Parliament to veto the appointment of the Chief Justice as the President should refer his appointee to the House for its approval.
Section 9:13 (3) provides as follows “If the Parliamentary Public Appointments Committee is of the opinion that the President’s nominee is unsuitable for appointment to the Office, the President must submit to it other names on the list submitted to him or her by the Judicial Service Commission, and the Public Appointments Committee must, in accordance with the Sixth Schedule, select one of them for appointment to the office concerned.” On Service Chiefs, the draft provides for the creation of a Defence Forces Service Commission whose duty is to appoint people to hold posts in the force, thus rendering its Commander redundant and with no role in the appointment and promotion of his staff, said Mr Nguni.