HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s failure to appoint a state security minister is a breach of his constitutional obligations, parliament has heard.
Hatcliffe MP Agency Gumbo (CCC) told parliament that section 225 of the Zimbabwe constitution placed an obligation on the president to appoint a minister in charge of the country’s intelligence service.
Mnangagwa has not appointed a minister to oversee the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) since sacking Owen Ncube during his first term in January 2022 over what was described as “conduct inappropriate for a minister of government.”
The president won re-election in August last year but kept the CIO directly under his supervision.
“Section 225 places a peremptory obligation on the president. It uses the word ‘must’ and what that means is that the president must not exercise a choice as far as fulfilling that obligation is concerned. Of course he may exercise a choice as far as who he appoints as the said minister,” Gumbo told the National Assembly on November 15.
The cited constitutional provision states: “The president must appoint a minister to be responsible for any national intelligence service.”
Gumbo said Mnangagwa’s failure to appoint a minister to oversee the CIO was “an abrogation of a constitutional nature, the consequences of which are dire.”
Gumbo said it was important to have a minister in charge of the national intelligence services so that questions on national security issues could be directed to them.
“In the absence of a minister of national security in this country there are serious national security questions. We are unable to interrogate and demand answers from the executive. This goes to the heart and core of our role of oversight,” Gumbo added.
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