THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR JUDICIARY
This post is a response to Dr. Alex Magaisa’s “ The trouble with our judiciary .” In that piece, Dr Magaisa uses the decision in Gonese & Majome vs Parliament & Others CCZ 4/20, together with the failure to hold public interviews, as evidence that the very men and women with the power to defend the Constitution are conspiring to trash it . These are strong words and grave allegations. As a student of Constitutional Courts, I have a keen interest in the public’s perception of judicial bodies as well as the distance between judicial outcomes and how they are shaped and presented for public consumption. Thus, the allegations warrant further attention. 1. Unconstitutional constitutional amendments In the Gonese case, the Constitutional Court ruled that passage of Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.1) Bill in the Senate was constitutionally invalid as the threshold of two-thirds was not reached. For Dr.Magaisa, this marks an important precedent that ...