1. The question of limited presidential powers Concerns have been raised by civil society and pro-democracy actors in Zimbabwe that one of the contributing factors to the Zimbabwe crisis has been the fact that the president enjoys excessive unchecked powers. In terms of the current constitution of Zimbabwe, the following are some of the powers that the president enjoys and exercises without effective restraint from any other arm of government.  Section 31 H of the Lancaster House constitution reposes executive authority in the president alone.  Apart from executive authority which he enjoys alone, Section 32 (1) gives the same president legislative authority. By virtue of section 32 (1), the president has full authority to enact primary legislation.  Apart from the written functions and powers in the constitution and legislation, Section 31 H (3), gives the president prerogative powers. This effectively means that the president has some powers outside those that are given to him by the people through legislation and the constitution.  Section 34 allows the president to directly and single handedly appoint a total of 15 senators [five in terms of section 34.1 (e) and the ten governors who are appointed into senate in terms of section 34.1 (b)]. Given that the Chief’s Council has been partisan (showing signs of belonging to ZANU PF) and yet they appoint 18 chiefs into parliament, this gives the president’s party 33 senatorial seats before the results of the senatorial elections are counted.  The president single handedly appoints five of the six members of the Judiciary Services Commission (JSC) and these are the attorney general, the chairperson of the Public Services Commission and the three other persons that are appointed in terms of section 90 (1) (d). The JSC is in turn responsible for making recommendations to the president on the appointment of the chief justice, deputy chief justice, judge president and other judges of the High Court as well as the Supreme Court and the attorney general. Thus the president controls the JSC which is responsible for the appointment of key state officials.  Section 111 A gives the president the power to appoint provincial governors without consulting anyone or being checked by anyone.  The president has the power to appoint the attorney general (AG) in consultation with the Judiciary Services Commission, of which he single handedly appoints 5/6 members of the Judiciary Services Commission. Therefore, the president controls the JSC which he is supposed to consult in appointing the AG.  In all the circumstances listed under section 87, where the question of investigating the suitability of a judge arises or that of the judge president or the chief justice, the president 6