Shyleen Mtandwa| Bulawayo residents have rejected the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 1) Bill 2017 saying the current charter has not been fully implemented, needing trial before any amendment.

Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment No.1 Act 2017 proposes that the Chief Justice, the deputy Chief Justice and the Judge President of the High Court to be appointed by the President after consultation with the Judiciary Services Commission.

Speaking during a Parliamentary consultation meeting held at, Iminyela Hall, residents resoundingly rejected the constitution amendment with no doubt.

Residents said the Amendment Bill would vest much power on the Executive depriving the Constitution of the separation of powers.

Former Magwegwe House of Assembly member, Felix Magalela Mafa Sibanda, said the President’s role is to protect the Constitution not to come up with the amendments, which satisfy the Executive only.

“I strongly believe in the doctrine of separation of powers meaning the Judiciary must be independent from the Executive and Legislature, therefore the President should not be allowed to choose judges alone,” said Sibanda.

He said they died for the current constitution and every amendment should be done through a referendum.

“The doctrine of separation of power is trying to neutralise absolute power to an institution and l believe correctly that absolute power corrupts absolutely,” said Sibanda.

Previously the appointment of the Judge President was done by the Chief Justice.

Another resident, Duncan Ncube, said the government must tell the public the reason behind the constitution amendment since people were the ones who scribed the current constitution.

“We find it so insulting when we come up with what we want as citizens and the government try to shift public’s view and put their own ideas which are in favour of them alone,” said Ncube.

“Our Constitution is fairly new and very attractive so what are we amending because we haven’t implemented the current constitution fully.”

Other amendments will be in paragraph 18(3) of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution titled Commencement of this Constitution, Transit Provisions and Savings, where the amendments will exclude the words “vacancies in the office of Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice”, from the scope of that provision.

Charles Ncube of Pumula said Section 180 of the Constitution allows people to elect Judges but the amendment does not involve public participation in the electing process.

A resident, Kenneth Chirimuda, said amending the Constitution would pave way for undemocratic practices.

“We feel it is too early to amend the Constitution, the reason being we are now opening floodgates of amendments,” said Chirimuda.

He blamed MPs for not bringing the Bill in advance so that people could read it in advance.

“The delivery of Constitution amendment copies clearly shows that the Parliament did not want our views because we cannot debate without fully reading and understanding the paper,” said Chirimuda.

The Bill also seeks to amend Section 174 to clarify conditions of service for judges of the High Court and judges of the Labour Court and Administrative Court.

Another resident Mthokosizi Ncube said Zanu-PF wants its ideologies to be the one’s dominating in the country.

“In this amendment, the President now wants to violate the Constitutional rights since the amendment will give the President absolute power,” said Ncube.

He said the amendment was done for the coming elections so that the ruling party will easily rig the elections.

Another resident, Minenhle Sibanda, said the consultations were just a formality and the findings will not be implemented.

“The Parliament should have consulted us whether to amend or not than to discuss the already amended constitution with the parliamentary views,” said Sibanda.