JUDICIAL SERVICE COMMISSION

Transcription

1 JUDICIAL SERVICE COMMISSION A Zimbabwe in which world class Justice prevails GUIDELINES ON THE APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES DISTRIBUTED BY VERITAS veritas@mango.zw; website: Veritas makes every effort to ensure the provision of reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied.

2 INTRODUCTION In terms of Section 180 of the Constitution, whenever it is necessary to appoint a judge, the Judicial Service Commission must advertise the position, invite the President and members of the public to make nominations, conduct interviews in public of prospective candidates, prepare a list of three qualified persons as nominees for each position and submit the list to the President, who must appoint one of the nominees and cause such appointment to be published in the Gazette. The qualifications for office for each court are detailed in the Constitution. These include the requirement that to be appointed as a judge, a person must be a fit and proper person to hold that office. In carrying out its mandate in terms of section 180 of the Constitution, the Judicial Service Commission is bound by the provisions of that section. It shall adopt the processes that follow hereunder in fulfilling its mandate. PURPOSE OF THE GUIDELINES These guidelines: (a) set out the essential processes that the Judicial Service Commission will follow in implementing section 180; (b) act as an aide-memoir and checklist for essential matters which the Judicial Service Commission must take into consideration in determining the qualifications and probity of the nominees for judicial office during the selection process; (c) inform the entire decision-making process of the Judicial Service Commission. The guidelines also take cognisance of the imperatives of section 191 of the Constitution for the conduct of the business of the Judicial Service Commission in a fair, just and transparent manner. The guidelines encapsulate these imperatives.

3 Road Map in the Selection of Judges Submission of the list to the President Drawing up the list of nominees for submission to the President Deliberations on the performance of the nominees Interview of the nominees in public Receipt of comments on qualifying nominees from the Law Society of Zimbabwe, any other relevant organisation and from the public (if any) Publication of the list of qualifying nominees and place and time of interviews in the public media Submission of the list of qualifying nominees to the Law Society of Zimbabwe or any other recognised professional body for lawyers for comments on each nominee Completion of detailed questionnaire by each nominee meeting the requirements of the advertisement and the law within a prescribed period Formal rejection of nominations failing to meet the requirements of the advertisement and of the law Assessment of all nominations for compliance with the advertisement and qualification requirements stipulated in the Constitution for each position Listing of all nominations received Closure of the period within which nominations can be made Receipt of nomination from the President and members of the public Advertisement of the position (and) at the same time inviting nominations within a prescribed period Formal declaration of vacancy by the Judicial Service Commission Chief Justice informs the Judicial Service Commission of the need to appoint Judges to the

4 1. NOTIFICATION OF VACANCY : The determination of when it is necessary to appoint a judge is the prerogative of the Judicial Service Commission. For this purpose, the Commission will act on the information provided by the Chief Justice on the need to: 1.1 fill vacancies occurring by operation of law and/or 1.2 replace judges in any court and /or 1.3 increase the number of judges to a given number to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the judiciary. 2. ADVERTISING THE POSITION To achieve as wide a circulation as possible, the advertisement for the position of judge: 2.1 shall be carried by all the daily and weekend papers circulating in Zimbabwe and 2.2 shall be posted on the website of the Judicial Service Commission and 2.3 may be disseminated in any other suitable manner as may be directed by the Commission from time to time. 3. INVITATION TO THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO MAKE NOMINATIONS 3.1 The invitation to make nominations will be part of the advertisement. For ease of access by members of the public to make nominations as required by law, nomination forms: will be available to members of the public at the Judicial Service Commission and all provincial magistrates court houses to which the forms are to be returned; may be downloaded from the Judicial Service Commission website; will be in simple language and with minimum instructions to be followed; are free of charge; and do not require a reason for the nomination. 3.2 Formal invitation to the President to nominate persons should he/she so desire may be made simultaneously with the advertisement. 4. NOMINATION PROCEDURE 4.1 For authenticity, each nominator is required to give their personal details and a contact address or phone number. 4.2 To ensure the consent of the nominee, the nomination form must be countersigned by the nominee and accompanied by the nominee s curriculum vitae. 4.3 Multiple nominations of the same person will be regarded as a single nomination with no weight

5 attaching to the number of nominations. 5. CLOSURE OF RECEIPT OF NOMINATION FORMS. All nomination forms must be received by the Judicial Service Commission or the provincial magistrates court houses strictly on or before the close of business of the date stated in the advertisement. 6. MASTER LIST OF ALL NOMINATIONS A list of all nominations received will be prepared and will be open for inspection by members of the public at the Judicial Service Commission and the provincial magistrates court houses. 7. ASSESSMENT FOR FORMAL COMPLIANCE 7.1 All nominations validly received will be assessed for formal completeness to ensure that they are completed in full, including signature by the nominee and the nominee s CV. 7.2 Next, the nominations will be assessed for legal compliance with age, citizenship (where applicable), academic and experience requirements. 7.3 Nominations which, and nominees who do not meet the prescribed requirements will be rejected. 8. FORMAL REJECTION OF NOMINATIONS FAILING TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE ADVERTISEMENT AND OF THE LAW. 8.1 All nominations failing the tests in 7 above are listed and formally rejected. 8.2 The reasons for rejecting the nomination are formally communicated to the nominator at the contact address given in the form. 8.3 The list of disqualified nominees may be published. 9. COMPLETION OF DETAILED QUESTIONNAIRE BY NOMINEES. 9.1 A nominee wishing to undergo the public interview will be required to fill in a questionnaire detailing:- (a) career path since completing formal education or training; (b) career in law, detailing employment, principal areas of practice, interests and involvements; (c) Court work carried out, noteworthy matters argued, number of reportable judgments written; (d) appearances in any of the courts in Zimbabwe or outside Zimbabwe;

6 (e) significant contributions to the law and the pursuit of justice; (f) publications in the field of law, highlighting the significant ones and why so regarded; (g) publications in any other field; (h) any physical disability or chronic health conditions; (i) any existing social, financial, political or other circumstance which may bring the judiciary into disrepute or have implications on the probity of the nominee for the office of Judge. 9.2 Nominees failing to complete the detailed questionnaire within the stipulated time will be formally disqualified from participating in the public interviews. 9.3 The list of nominees disqualified at this stage may be published. 10. SUBMISSION OF THE LIST OF QUALIFYING NOMINEES TO THE LAW SOCIETY OF ZIMBABWE AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT ORGANISATION 10.1 The list of nominees due to be interviewed will be submitted to the Law Society of Zimbabwe or any other relevant organisation for its comments on the professional conduct of the nominee and the comments will be taken into consideration by the Judicial Service Commission in determining whether or not the nominee is a fit and proper person for appointment to the office of judge Nominees will be informed of any adverse comments by the Law Society of Zimbabwe or any other relevant organisation and the Judicial Service Commission may question the nominee at the interview with regard to the adverse comments with a view to determining whether or not the adverse comments will have a bearing on the nominee s probity. 11. PUBLICATION OF THE LIST OF NOMINEES 11.1 Simultaneously with the submission of the list of nominees to the Law Society of Zimbabwe or any other relevant organisation, the Judicial Service Commission shall also publish the list to the public for any comments the public may wish to make with regard to any of the nominees Anonymous comments will not be considered Nominees will be informed of any adverse comments received from members of the public and may be questioned about them at the interview with a view to determining whether or not the adverse comments will have a bearing on the nominee s probity. 12. PUBLICATION OF THE PLACE AND TIME OF THE PUBLIC INTERVIEWS.

7 12.1 Simultaneous with the publication of the list of nominees, the Judicial Service Commission shall notify the public of the time and place for the interviews in the same manner as vacancies were advertised and invite members of the public who may wish to do so to attend The time and place of the interviews shall be chosen with a view to allow ease of access and attendance by members of the public who may wish to witness the proceedings. 13. INTERVIEW OF THE NOMINEES IN PUBLIC 13.1 The Chairperson or the Deputy Chairperson shall preside over the interviews All Commissioners shall be given an opportunity to put questions to a nominee The Judicial Service Commission must, as far as is possible, endeavour to be fair in the questioning of the nominees but this by no means necessarily entails the uniformity of the questions or the length of the interviews both of which shall be in the discretion of the Judicial Service Commission. 14. QUALITIES USED IN THE EVALUATION OF NOMINEES The qualities that nominees must have include but are not limited to the following: 14.1 Competence professional competence capacity to give expression to the values of the Constitution organizational, administrative and communication skills 14.2 Integrity (honesty, ethical principles, probity) 14.3 Industry (diligence, hard work) 14.4 Independence (original thinker, free from external influence) 14.5 Experience (knowledge, skill) 14.6 Good judgment including common sense 14.7 Legal and life experiences relevant to the position including judicial post held before, experiences in the High Court, the Supreme Court and or the Constitutional Court 14.8 Commitment to community and public service (dedication to state service, allegiance to the state, loyalty) 14.9 Potential for the post (capacity to adapt or develop)

8 15. SCORING OF NOMINEES DURING INTERVIEWS The Commissioners will score each nominee on each of the qualities listed in 14 above The Commissioners will score each nominee independently. 16. DELIBERATIONS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE NOMINEES Deliberations on the performance of the nominees in the interviews shall be held in private Deliberations on the suitable nominees will take into account the performance at the interview, any comments from the Law Society of Zimbabwe, any other relevant organisation and or the public as well as the information supplied by the nominees in the detailed questionnaire Deliberations on the suitable nominees shall be based on merit Deliberations on the final list of suitable nominees shall take into account the diverse and gender composition of Zimbabwe which the judiciary must reflect After deliberations, the Commission must formally resolve on the list of names to submit to the President in terms of the law. 17. SUBMISSION OF THE LIST TO THE PRESIDENT. The Chairperson of the Commission will submit the list agreed upon by the Commission to the President.