By 
A consortium of Bulawayo based lawyers led by Ncube and Partners is preparing to challenge the passing on of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 1) Bill in parliament.
The lawyers in their submission argue that the process did not follow due procedure of the house of assembly as it was a continous process from expired terms of parliament, hence null and void.
“Most of the changes which the National Assembly made to the Constitutional Amendment (No.2) Bill, which is not subject of the court challenge, in the committee stage materially altered clauses of the original draft or added new clauses that were not there. Hence, they are unconstitutional because they were made without going through the procedure laid down in section 328 of the constitution.
As a result, the clauses which have been changed and added to the Bill have not been properly passed by parliament. This will remain so no matter how many MPs voted for the Bill in its final reading on 20 April. “
This move will potentially derail Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s controversial plan to extend his tenure, saying the move violates the constitution.The extension plan is linked to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s 2023 re-election bid. Malaba seemed on course for a politically and constitutionally problematic extension of his tenure after high-level official interventions and the passing of the Bill, which is now awaiting Mnangagwa’s assent.
Constitutional Amendment (No.1) Bill, among other things, seeks to allow the President to appoint the Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice and Judge President without subjecting them to the open selection process and public interviews.
This will allow Mnangagwa to retain Malaba at the helm of the judiciary after the approval of Constitutional Amendment (No.2) Bill, which is set to be railroaded through parliament, to enable Malaba to serve when he is over 70.
AT a time when President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Chief Justice Luke Malaba thought their authoritarian consolidation agenda through roughshod constitutional amendments to ensure their 2023 election plan remains intact was on track – steaming ahead unstoppably – lawyers have taken a bold move to derail the runaway train of dictatorship.
The critical constitutional amendments – Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.1) and Constitutional Amendment (No.2) – which make the late former president Robert Mugabe, a ruthless authoritarian ruler, look like a saint, are designed to consolidate power in Mnangagwa’s hands in a bid to restore the imperial presidency that ruined the nation in the first place.
Mnangagwa and his cohorts, including Malaba who wants to extend his tenure beyond his retirement on 15 May at 70, are bidding to change the constitution without following proper legislative and constitutional processes to allow the president to avoid having elected vice-presidents as running mates, appoint judges and extend their age limits, and appoint more unelected ministers, among other things. This will help him consolidate his grip on power and widen his scope of patronage – increase seats on the gravy train and add more slots on the feeding trough – and ensure control.
Most of the changes which the National Assembly made to the Constitutional Amendment (No.2) Bill, which is not subject of the court challenge, in the committee stage materially altered clauses of the original draft or added new clauses that were not there. Hence, they are unconstitutional because they were made without going through the procedure laid down in section 328 of the constitution.
As a result, the clauses which have been changed and added to the Bill have not been properly passed by parliament. This will remain so no matter how many MPs voted for the Bill in its …
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