Home » Media Centre » Blogs » He Said, He Said...Who is Right on the Judicial Nominations?
By Mzalendo Contributor - Moreen Majiwa (@mmajiwa)
Yesterday the impasse between the President and the Prime Minister on nominations for Attorney General, Chief Justice, and Director of Public Prosecution, came to ahead in Parliament and on TV for all to see.
The issue - whether there had been consultations between the two Principals over the proposed nominees. While it's not the only controversial issue surrounding the nominations, whether or not consultations took place is crucial to the determination of the constitutionality of the nominations made for the positions Chief Justice, Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General.
Section 24 (2) and 29 (2) of the Sixth Schedule are both clear on the topic of consultation.
Section 24 (2) ‘a new Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President, subject to the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, and after consultation with the Prime Minister and with the approval of the National Assembly.’
Section 29 (2) ‘Unless this Schedule prescribes otherwise, when this Constitution requires an appointment to be made by the President with the approval of the National Assembly, until after the first elections under this Constitution, ‘the President shall, subject to the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, appoint a person after consultation with the Prime Minister’
Until yesterday the Prime Minister had maintained that no consultations were had between the President and himself. So it was surprising when the Vice President and Head of Government Business stood up and proceeded to read out minutes of what seemed to be a lengthy consultation between the President and Prime Minister on the issue of the judicial nominees.
While the Prime Minister conceded that the meeting between took place between President and himself. The Prime Minister stuck to the position that what took place between the President and himself did not constitute a consultation on nominees. He insisted that it was not the main purpose of the meeting and no conclusion was reached as to whom the nominees should be. Furthermore, he suggested that further consultations be held before the names of the nominees were forwarded to government.
Mzalendo has obtained the full minutes read by the Vice President before Parliament do they constitute a full consultation? You decide…the minutes of the consultation can be downloaded here (543 KB PDF)
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