Editing Politics of Zimbabwe (section)

==Government of Zimbabwe==

Political power in Zimbabwe is split between three branches, the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches, with the President as the head of the executive branch, the Prime Minister the head of the legislative branch and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe the head of the judicial branch.

=== Executive ===

Under the present Zimbabwean Constitution, the President's powers can be grouped roughly into the following categories:

*Power over the Legislature, namely the power to summon, adjourn and dissolve Parliament, and the power to appoint members of Parliament.
*Power over the Judiciary, namely the power to appoint judges and other members of the judiciary.
*Power to appoint members of the Executive, namely Cabinet Ministers and administrative officers such as public servants.
*Power to appoint ambassadors and members of constitutional Commissions.
*Power over the security forces, namely the Defence Forces and the Police.
*Legislative power, namely the power to enact legislation.
*Power to declare war and make peace
*Miscellaneous powers, such as the exercise of the prerogative of mercy and the power to confer honours and precedence. The grant of a pardon or respite from execution of sentence or the substitution or suspension of a sentence must be published in the Gazette.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Constitution of The Republic of Zimbabwe Amendment(No.20) 2013|publisher=MOJLPA in partnership with ZBCB|year=2013|location=Zimbabwe|pages=49}}</ref>
{{office-table}}
|[[List of Presidents of Zimbabwe|President]]
|[[Emmerson Mnangagwa]]
|[[ZANU-PF]]
|24 November 2017
|-
|[[Vice-President of Zimbabwe|Vice-President]]
|[[Constantino Chiwenga]]
|[[ZANU-PF]]
|28 December 2017
|}

Under Zimbabwe's Constitution, the president is the head of state, government and commander-in-chief of the defense forces, elected by popular majority vote. Prior to 2013, the president was elected for a 6-year term with no term limits. The new constitution approved in the [[Zimbabwean constitutional referendum, 2013|2013 constitutional referendum]] limits the president to two 5-year terms, but this does not take effect retrospectively ([[Robert Mugabe]] had held the office from 1987 to 2017).

[[Cabinet of Zimbabwe|The Cabinet]] is appointed by the president and responsible to the House of Assembly.

The '''Minister of State for Presidential Affairs''' is a non-cabinet ministerial position in the government of Zimbabwe. The incumbent is [[Didymus Mutasa]].<ref name=swornin2>{{Cite news|title=New Cabinet appointed|date=13 Feb 2009|publisher=The Herald (Zimbabwe)|url=http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=540&cat=1|access-date=2009-02-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216180622/http://herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=540&cat=1|archive-date=2009-02-16|url-status=dead}}</ref> The duties of the position have yet to be publicly defined.

===Legislature===

[[File:Harare parlament 24032005.jpg|thumb|[[Parliament of Zimbabwe]] in [[Harare]]]]

Parliament consists of the [[House of Assembly (Zimbabwe)|House of Assembly]] and, since 2005, the [[Senate of Zimbabwe|Senate]], which had previously been abolished in 1990. The House of Assembly has 210 members elected by universal suffrage, including the Speaker, and the [[Attorney General of Zimbabwe|Attorney General]], and may serve for a maximum of five years.<ref>[http://voanews.com/english/Africa/Zimbabwe/2007-11-01-voa45.cfm "Zimbabwe's Mugabe Finalizes Constitutional Amendment On Elections"]{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, [[Caroline Gombakomba|Carole Gombakomba]], VOA News, November 1, 2007.</ref> Under the [[Zimbabwean constitutional referendum, 2013|2013 constitution]], the Senate consists of 80 members, of whom 60 are elected for five-year terms in 6-member constituencies representing one of the 10 provinces, elected based on the votes in the lower house election, using [[party-list proportional representation]], distributed using the [[hare quota]]. Additionally the Senate consists of 2 seats for each non-metropolitan district of Zimbabwe elected by each provincial assembly of chiefs using [[Single non-transferable vote|SNTV]],<ref>{{cite book|title=ELECTORAL ACT|publisher=[[Zimbabwe Electoral Commission]]|page=35|url=http://www.zec.gov.zw/electoral-media?download=497:consolidated-electoral-act|access-date=18 January 2015|format=pdf|chapter=Part X, Section 44|archive-date=18 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118194119/http://www.zec.gov.zw/electoral-media?download=497:consolidated-electoral-act|url-status=dead}}</ref> 1 seat each for the president and deputy president of the [[Zimbabwe Council of Chiefs|National Council of Chiefs]] and 1 male and 1 female seat for people with disabilities elected on separate ballots using [[Plurality voting system|FPTP]] by an electoral college designated by the National Disability Board.<ref name=zimbabweconst>{{cite book|title=Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20)|pages=52–54|url=http://www.parlzim.gov.zw/attachments/article/56/constitution.pdf|chapter=3, 4|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910142157/http://www.parlzim.gov.zw/attachments/article/56/constitution.pdf|archive-date=2014-09-10}}</ref><ref name="zimbabwe electoral act 2014">{{cite web|title=Electoral Amendment Act 2014 [Act 6-2014]|url=http://www.veritaszim.net/sites/veritas_d/files/Electoral%20Amendment%20Act%202014%20-%20Act%206-2014.doc|website=Veritas Zimbabwe|access-date=18 January 2015|pages=52–55|format=doc}}</ref>

===Judiciary===

The judiciary is headed by the Chief Justice of the [[Supreme Court of Zimbabwe]] who, like their contemporaries, is appointed by the President on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission. The Constitution has a Bill of Rights containing extensive protection of human rights. The Bill of Rights could not be amended for the first 10 years of independence except by unanimous vote of Parliament.

The Supreme Court is the highest court of order and the final court of appeal. The Chief Justice is the senior judge. Others who sit on the bench of the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe are Justice [[Paddington Garwe]], former Judge-President of the High Court, Wilson Sandura and Vernanda Ziyambi. [[Luke Malaba]], a former justice of the Supreme Court, was appointed acting chief justice on 1 March 2017 following the retirement of Chief Justice [[Godfrey Chidyausiku]]. Malaba was promoted to chief justice on 28 March.<ref name="herald.co.zw">{{cite web|last1=Zharare|first1=Herbert|last2=Kachere|first2=Phyllis|title=Malaba appointed Chief Justice {{!}} The Herald|url=http://www.herald.co.zw/malaba-appointed-chief-justice/|website=www.herald.co.zw|access-date=1 April 2017}}</ref>

The legal system is based on [[Roman-Dutch law]] with [[South Africa]]n influences. A five-member Supreme Court, headed by the Chief-Justice has original jurisdiction over alleged violations of fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution and appellate jurisdiction over other matters. There is a High Court consisting of general and appellate divisions. Below the High Court are regional magistrate's courts with civil jurisdiction and magistrate's courts with both civil and criminal jurisdiction over cases involving traditional law and custom. Beginning in 1981, these courts were integrated into the national system.

List of chief justices of Zimbabwe:

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:85%;text-align:left"
!rowspan="2"|Incumbent
!colspan="2"|Tenure
!rowspan="2" width=50% |Notes
|-
!Took office
!Left office
|-
|[[Hector Macdonald (judge)|Hector Norman MacDonald]]
|1977
|May 1980
|Appointed by Ian Smith ([[Rhodesia]] under [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|UDI]])
|-
| [[John Fieldsend|Sir John Fieldsend]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rothschildfostertrust.com/materials/lecture_gubbay.pdf|title=THE LIGHT OF SUCCESSIVE CHIEF JUSTICES OF ZIMBABWE IN SEEKING TO PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RULE OF LAW|publisher=MIRIAM ROTHSCHILD AND JOHN FOSTER HUMAN RIGHTS TRUST|access-date= 26 February 2016}}</ref>
|1 July 1980
|1983
|
|-
| [[Enoch Dumbutshena]]
|February 1984
|1990
|
|-
|[[Anthony Gubbay]]
|1990
|2001
|
|-
|[[Godfrey Chidyausiku]]
|2001
|2017
|
|-
|[[Luke Malaba]]<ref name="herald.co.zw"/>
|2017
|present
|
|}

===Provincial governance===

{{Multiple issues|section=yes|{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2011}}
{{Expand section|date=December 2011}}}}
''Main articles: [[Provinces of Zimbabwe]], [[Districts of Zimbabwe]]''