adminEllah Mukwati Herald Reporter
The Judicial Service Commission is calling for applications from suitably qualified persons to be nominated to the pool of judges for the Southern African Development Community Administrative Tribunal.
The Tribunal came into effect at the Sadc Summit in Botswana in August this year, which passed a resolution approving its formal establishment, succeeding the controversial Sadc Tribunal whose judgments were vehemently opposed by Zimbabwe.
“Member States have been called upon to submit two nominees each, for consideration to constitute a pool of judges for the Tribunal, said the JSC.
Successful candidates will be submitted to the Executive Secretary of Sadc for consideration by the Committee of Ministers of Justice and Attorneys-General before a final recommendation to council. Appointment will be for a term of two years, renewable once.”
The JSC said those interested should be Zimbabwean nationals, of high moral standing, fit and proper to hold office as a judge, at least 40 years of age, and be a judge or possess the qualification necessary to be appointed as a judge in Zimbabwe.
The Sadc Administrative Tribunal replaces the Sadc Tribunal, which was dissolved at the 32nd Sadc Summit in Mozambique in 2012 after concerns were raised that it was straying from its original mandate. The Sadc Tribunal courted controversy when it passed judgments that contravened Zimbabwe’s constitutional position on the land reform programme.
The Zimbabwe Government made it clear that it was not bound by the Tribunal’s rulings because its constituting Treaty had not been ratified by two-thirds of Sadc’s Member States.
Only five countries out of the required 10 had ratified the Treaty establishing the Tribunal, indicating how member States were not keen on the body.
Zimbabwe was one of the 10 countries that had not ratified the protocol that sought to give the Tribunal power.
Unlike the Sadc Tribunal, the Sadc Administrative Tribunal will have a clear mandate to deal with cases between Member States and not individuals and/or juristic bodies. It will also be confined to advisory interpretation of the Sadc Treaty and any other protocols that may be negotiated among Member States.
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