‘Leadership roles should be open to everyone’

THE Constitutional Law Centre (CLC) has urged government to desist from making leadership roles in State institutions a preserve of lawyers as it was affecting their independence.

CLC co-founder Alex Magaisa said the most common qualification for independent commissions was legal expertise, but over-reliance on lawyers as heads of State institutions was discriminatory.

Magaisa was discussing whether the provisions of the Independent Complaints Mechanism Commission Bill were compatible with the Constitution, during a virtual meeting hosted by CLC yesterday.

The Bill seeks to implement section 210 of the Constitution to provide an avenue for members of the public to pursue their grievances against misconduct by members of the security services.

Section 6(1) of the Bill stipulates that the chairperson of the commission must be a person who is qualified to be a judge of the High Court.

“First, members of the legal profession always occupy the chair’s role in most commissions, even when this is not a necessity,” Magaisa said.

“This monopolisation of leadership roles at State institutions by the legal profession is a weakness because it is exclusionary and limits the skills available for leadership roles of State institutions to a small group of legal elites.

“The chairpersonship is a leadership role and one does not have to be a lawyer to be a good leader.

“Any other person, including members of the clergy, business or academia can provide leadership skills that are required for these roles. If the chairperson needs legal advice, there are legal professionals to provide it.”

Magaisa criticised the appointment of the members of the Independent Complaints Mechanism Bill by the President, saying this compromised the commission’s independence.

“Like the Judiciary, the independence of the commission is affected by the method by which its members are appointed,” he said.

“The commission has five members and the chairperson is appointed by the President after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission.

“The other four members are also appointed by the President, but from a shortlist selected by Parliament’s Committee on Standing Rules and Orders. This method of appointment is like the one used for members of other independent constitutional commissions.”

State security agents have been fingered as major perpetrators of human rights abuses such as assaults, torture, harassment and extra-judicial killings, in recent studies by civic society groups.