On New Year’s Eve, the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 2) Bill was gazetted. Provisions of this Bill include:
- Dispensing with the “running-mate” concept of the Vice-Presidency. Instead, the 2 Vice-Presidents to be chosen on the President’s own authority.
- Enabling the President to appoint up to 7 (instead of 5) Ministers from outside Parliament.
- Extending the provision for the party-list women members of the National Assembly for another ten years.
- Providing for the party-list representation of youths in the National Assembly.
- Decoupling the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)’s delimitation function from the population census held every 10 years.
- Allowing the President, acting on the recommendation of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), to appoint sitting judges to vacancies in the higher courts, without subjecting them to the public interview procedure.
- Allowing Judges of the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court to extend their tenure after reaching the age of 70 annually for up to 5 years, subject to a favourable medical report as to the mental and physical fitness of the judge to continue in office.
- Creating the office of the Public Protector, who will take over certain functions concerning public maladministration, etc, from the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission.
- Providing for the appointment of the Prosecutor-General by the President on the advice of the JSC, without the intervention of a public interview procedure.
- Making special provision the Prosecutor-General to be removed for cause by a Tribunal.
- Removing members of Parliament from the membership of provincial councils.
- Merging provisions relating to provincial and metropolitan councils – metropolitan councils will no longer be chaired by mayors, but be elected in terms of section 272 like provincial councils.
- Providing for the election of 10 of the members of Metropolitan Councils by a system of party-list proportional representation.
Get involved! According to the Constitution, Parliament must consult the public about these amendments. This will include public consultations and written submissions. Read the amendment Bill here, and watch this space – We’ll be sharing more analysis and information about public consultation processes as it becomes available. If you’d like to be the first with the Constitutional Amendment info, email info@kubatana.net or WhatsApp us on +263 779 567768 and say Amendment Info
