Movement for Democratic Change vice-president Nelson Chamisa yesterday told Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa to stop imagining he would become Zimbabwe’s next President because there will be elections next near and he (Chamisa) could well become the country’s Vice-President.
Chamisa said this when he interjected to Mnangagwa’s sentiments that one of the beautiful tenets of democracy was that people are allowed to float their imaginations.
“Like your imagination of becoming President,” Chamisa quipped.
Chamisa was speaking during the debate on the proposed amendment of the national constitution which seeks to give the President powers to appoint the three top judicial officers.
The constitution which came into force in 2013 currently says judges must be selected after interviews.
“We cannot have a situation whereby we have a person who is the power unto himself for everything,” Chamisa argued.
“Yes, he is our President, we have elected him but you must know. I am saying this because I am very conscious of the possibilities that are there. Next year there is going to be an election, I am deputy president of the opposition – I might end up being the deputy occupant of that office and we do not need those powers.
“As a new government, we do not need those powers. They are odious powers and are unnecessary. This is why we are saying to the Hon. Vice President, please let us reconsider some of the laws that we put in place. We will end up with a sword where we are supposed to have a very functional instrument or two that will help our country.”
Mnangagwa said that it had to be clear that while there was a separation of powers, the Head of State was above all other arms of the State.
“I want to say one other thing, we have three pillars of State of equal status; the Judiciary, this Legislature and the Executive,” Mnangagwa said.
“These are equal pillars of State. However, you have the Speaker as the head of the Legislature and the Chief Justice as the head of the Judiciary. We have the President as the Head of the Executive but we have one other person who is Head of State.
“These three pillars are of equal legal status but there is one State that is the Head of State who is above the three except that when that Head of State comes down, he becomes Head of the Executive but when he is Head of State, he is head of 1, 2 and 3.”
Continued next age
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