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AG Machaya shreds Justice Mangota's ruling on 1 August killings
22 Nov 2018 at 11:19hrs | Views
Attorney-General Prince Machaya has said without the express authorisation of the President, the Minister of Defence cannot unilaterally deploy soldiers to assist police.
He was commenting before the Motlanthe Commission on the High Court judgement that was issued by Justice David Mangota exonerating President Emmerson Mnangagwa from the deployment of the soldiers to restore peace on August 1.
"One of the conclusions the judge came to was that the Minister of defence was the one who had authorised the deployment of the defense forces on 1 August. My reading of it is that neither the applicant nor the respondent had placed that evidence in court and therefore the judge or the court reached the conclusion merely from perusing the provisions of the Public Order and Security Act Section 37. That conclusion was not based on facts before the court."
Machaya said the ruling is misplaced since the President is the only one who can deploy defence forces.
"In terms of the Constitution only the President can legally deploy the military in support of the police. How the deployed soldiers behave is clearly spelt out in POSA," he added.
Machaya conceded that when read in isolation POSA creates impression that defence Minister can deploy defence forces without authority from the President.
Prominent lawyer David Coltart concurred with Machaya and said, "This is a correct interpretation of section 213 of the Constitution which we have said ever since this tragedy occurred."
He was commenting before the Motlanthe Commission on the High Court judgement that was issued by Justice David Mangota exonerating President Emmerson Mnangagwa from the deployment of the soldiers to restore peace on August 1.
"One of the conclusions the judge came to was that the Minister of defence was the one who had authorised the deployment of the defense forces on 1 August. My reading of it is that neither the applicant nor the respondent had placed that evidence in court and therefore the judge or the court reached the conclusion merely from perusing the provisions of the Public Order and Security Act Section 37. That conclusion was not based on facts before the court."
Machaya said the ruling is misplaced since the President is the only one who can deploy defence forces.
"In terms of the Constitution only the President can legally deploy the military in support of the police. How the deployed soldiers behave is clearly spelt out in POSA," he added.
Machaya conceded that when read in isolation POSA creates impression that defence Minister can deploy defence forces without authority from the President.
Prominent lawyer David Coltart concurred with Machaya and said, "This is a correct interpretation of section 213 of the Constitution which we have said ever since this tragedy occurred."
Source - Byo24News
