By Own Correspondent- Treasury has given the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) the nod to begin recruiting staffers of the Constitutional Court next month, while the selection of judges will begin thereafter.

Currently, a single panel of judges has been superintending over both the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court.

Although Section 183 of the Constitution prohibits the appointment of judicial officers in more than one court, a seven-year transitional clause — through part 18(2) of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution — was put in place to enable Supreme Court judges to serve in the Constitutional Court, which was borne out of the 2013 Constitution.

However, the clause lapses on May 22 next year.

JSC secretary Walter Chikwana told the state media that the separation of the two courts has already begun although the recruitment of judges will only commence once the JSC gets the greenlight from Government.

He said:

“We have already been given authority by Treasury to recruit staff for the Constitutional Court, and we will be starting in June because the staff we have at the moment is Supreme Court staff.

We have started on that process already so that when the two courts separate, we are going to have staff for both.In terms of Section 180 of the Constitution, whenever there is a vacancy, the JSC is required to declare it and advertise it and conduct public interviews. After they are done, the names are submitted to His Excellency (President Emmerson Mnangagwa) and he makes the necessary appointments.”

In essence, Section 166 of the Constitution stipulates that a total of seven judges – including the Chief Justice (Luke Malaba) and Deputy Chief Justice (Elizabeth Gwaunza) – shall sit in the Constitutional Court.

The Chief Justice may also appoint an acting judge if the services are required.

Qualifying judges to this superior court should necessarily be more than 40-years-old and have the relevant experience.

In fact, Section 177 of the Constitution stipulates that a candidate should have “been a judge of a court with unlimited jurisdiction in civil or criminal matters in the country in which the common law is Roman-Dutch or English, and English is an officially recognised language”.

They should also have practiced law for at least 12 years in Zimbabwe or any country in which the common law is Roman-Dutch law.-StateMedia