ZANU PF national spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said that the party cannot decide whether underfire Ziyambi Ziyambi continues as the justice minister.
Moyo said the party does not appoint cabinet ministers as that is the prerogative of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
He was responding to media questions on the ruling party’s position regarding last week’s aggressive statements issued by an incensed Ziyambi against the judiciary. Said Moyo:
ZANU PF does not appoint ministers. It’s a prerogative of the President and, therefore, I am speaking generally that people must refrain from indulging in matters that they may not be very familiar with.
We as a party are bound by that call. We are not going to be commenting on matters that are sub judice. So everybody is bound by that.
So when it comes to the ministers, they are appointed by the President. It’s his prerogative to act in a manner that he feels.
Moyo said the ruling party commends Mnangagwa for reasserting the independence of the judiciary following Ziyambi’s weekend outburst. He said:
On the independence of the judiciary, we salute President ED Mnangagwa for his acknowledgement of and reassertion that the independence of the judiciary should never be tampered with even if people may respectively disagree with the judgments by the bench.
Ziyambi accused High Court judges of working for hostile governments and opposition political parties after they ruled the extension of former Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s term of office by another five years was unconstitutional.
A three-judge panel of the High Court Justices Happias Zhou, Edith Mushore and Jester Charewa on Saturday granted an urgent application stopping Malaba from benefiting from the changes to the Constitution.
The application was urgent as he turned 70 on Saturday and had opted to continue in office.