EXTRACT FROM NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEBATES [UNCORRECTED]
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Tuesday 22nd July 2014
STATUS OF THE ZIMBABWE ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS (MR. MOHADI):
Mr. Speaker Sir, prior to the advent of the new Constitution, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) was governed by the Anti-Corruption Commission Act and the repealed Constitution. Under these two laws, it was lawful and constitutional, to renew the terms of office for the Commissioners once the term expired without any stipulated procedure being followed.
Secondly, Section 6 (ii) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act states that “a member shall hold office for a period of two years and may be reappointed for another term of two years but not be eligible for reappointment thereafter”. When the new Constitution was ushered in last year, the ZAC Commissioners were still in office and later, their term of office expired. This therefore meant that the new Constitution was now the supreme law.
In the review of term of office for ZAC Commissioners; section 237 of the new Constitution had to be followed. This section sets out the procedure which has to be followed when appointing Commissioners. It states that for the purposes of nominating persons for appointment to the Commission, the Committee of Standing Rules and Orders must “advertise the position, invite the public to make nominations, conduct public interviews of prospective candidates, prepare a list of appropriate number of nominees for appointment and submit the list to the President”.
However, after the expiry of the term of office of Zimbabwe Anti- Corruption Commission, the due process as stipulated above could not start immediately. Further, it takes considerable time to advertise, interview, carry out the necessary evaluation before submitting a list to the President for his approval. Meanwhile, work has to go on. Thus to evade a vacuum, the Commissioners were reappointed in order to do the work as before in terms of the cited Anti-Corruption Commission Act.
Upon re-examination, it was realised that the extension was unconstitutional, hence the directive that the Chairman wrote and ordering the Commissioners not to undertake any work pending the finalisation of the issue. You will therefore agree with me that the harmonisation of laws with the new Constitution is still going on.
Parliament has indicated that it intends advertising the post of Commissioners which I believe ought to have been done when the adverts for the media and human rights commissions were made. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
[After questions from MPs about reports of the former members having been recalled to duty as a temporary measure, the Minister said:
MR. MOHADI: Mr. Speaker Sir, the questions that are being asked are as follows: currently, do we have a Commission in place? … First and foremost, there is no Commission that is in place because Commissions are appointed by the Standing Rules and Orders Committee. What I indicated to you that if there was anything that was done and done at the Executive level, that was unconstitutional. That is what I said in my statement and that stands.]
