What Zimbabwe MPs said about the Constitution Amendment Bill-Part Three

You can even afford not to go to the Magistrate Court and take your case, if it is a civil case to the High Court.  That is allowed but you cannot recover your costs if you are a lawyer.  Therefore, what the amendment is trying to cure is that you have to have this hierarchy maintained, which is not the case in this Constitution.

 THE HON. VICE PRESIDENT AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON.  E. MNANGAGWA):  Mr. Chairman, I will not be-labour myself with repeated arguments by repeated Hon. Members because I am puzzled how an Hon. Member who is educated can say that calling the head of the Labour Court Senior Judge is a demotion.  His/her conditions of employment are not being affected as they remain as they were.  What is being corrected is the perking order that the Labour Court and Administrative Court are subordinate to the High Court.  The Judge President is Judge President of the High Court and lower courts which report to him.  So, who is more senior to the Labour Court is a Senior Judge and who is more senior in the Magistrates Court is the Head of the Magistrate Courts.  That is the perking order which is from the Head of the Magistrates Courts to the Head of the Labour Court then the Head of the High Court who superintends over all these layers of the Judiciary down to the smallest court like the Small Claims Court.  That is what we are trying to amend.  It is not just a question of status in terms of their services, no. Their conditions of service remain and there is no question of demotion at all.  We are designating their correct titles guided by the levels and jurisdiction which they have in relation to the courts they preside over.

Clause 4 put and agreed to.

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