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Zim to remove all judicial officers from ministerial control: Chinamasa
The Herald (Zimbabwe)
September 28, 2006

http://allafrica.com/stories/200609280271.html

GOVERNMENT is committed to enhancing the independence of the judiciary by removing all judicial officers from ministerial control and placing them and their supporting staff under the Judicial Services Commission, the House of Assembly heard on Tuesday.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa told the House that the current system where the judiciary depended on the parent ministry for day-to-day needs was too bureaucratic and inefficient.

The minister was making his second reading of the Judicial Services Bill that seeks to remove magistrates and their supporting staff from the authority of the Public Service Commission and place them under the same commission that certifies judges.

"The role played by the Public Service Commission in the appointment and fixing of conditions of service and in the discipline of magistrates, has led to public perceptions that the judiciary is not an independent institution and therefore the quality of justice is compromised," he said.

The Judicial Services Commission is constituted in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

Its functions, as provided for by the Constitution, are to tender such advice and do such things as provided in an Act of Parliament or in the Constitution.

It further provides that an Act of Parliament may confer on the commission functions in connection with employment, discipline and conditions of service of officers and persons employed in the Supreme Court, High Court, Office of the Ombudsman and other subordinate courts.

Judges of the Administrative Court, Labour Court, High Court and Supreme Court are appointed and their conditions of service fixed by the President in terms of the Constitution. On the other hand, magistrates and their supporting staff, who also execute judiciary functions, are appointed by the Public Services Commission, which also fixes their conditions of service.

Cde Chinamasa said placing all judicial officers and their supporting staff under the Judicial Services Commission would ensure a targeted deployment of resources and promote accountability as well as a more focused attention to the needs of this arm of Government.

This in tandem with the internationally-acceptable standards of independent judiciaries.

However, chiefs and headmen and other persons who preside over customary law courts will not come under the ambit of the proposed law.

Under the Bill, the Judicial Services Commission will have the mandate of appointing judicial officers and other persons as well as fixing their conditions of service.

The commission will be empowered to deal with disciplinary cases of members so as to protect the dignity of their office. Cde Chinamasa said members of the judiciary would enjoy protection from arrests and searches while in their chambers.

"It is deemed that the proposed measures will improve and enhance access to and the quality of justice afforded to the public," he said.

The minister adjourned debate on the second reading of the Bill to today in order to give time to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to prepare its report on the proposed law.

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