Ministers clash fiercely for the second time in a week over Chief Justice succession and constitution

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa‘s faction had another heated clash with members of the rival G40 faction over the successor of Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku.  This is the second time, this happened in a just over a period of a week.  Mnangagwa wants to amend Section 180 of the Constitution so that the President can appoint the Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice and Judge President of the High Court directly.  All he needs to do is to seek the advice of the JSC, which he can disregard.

A source told the Independent that the G40 argued against this position.  The source said:

The counter arguments to Mnangagwa’s presentation were threefold, one of them being that his proposals were basically driven by factional agendas and opportunism. The ministers argued that it was all about power politics and not issues of public interest, adding that Mnangagwa’s political manoeuvre would give opposition parties a tool to mobilise support and a rallying point ahead of 2018 elections.

“The ministers raised the political implications of the proposals saying what Mnangagwa was doing would either arm and rejuvenate the opposition or create a new opposition front against it. The argument was also that the proposed amendments were not based on principle, but on an agenda to try and impose a particular candidate of their (the Mnangagwa faction’s) choice to the position of CJ at the expense of the constitution and public interest.

More: The Independent