Judgment No. CCZ 10/2018 Const. Application No. CCZ 80/2016 The Minister also avers that the members of the new tribunals created by the Act are nominated by bodies that are independent of the Minister, for example, the Public Service Commission and the Law Society of Zimbabwe. The Minister simply appoints those persons who have been nominated by those entities. The procedure relating to the operation of the tribunals are indicative of their independent nature. Failure to Comply with Section 278(2) of the Constitution Section 278 of the Constitution governs the tenure of seats of members of local authorities. Subsection (2) of this provision dictates that an Act of Parliament must provide for the establishment of an independent tribunal to exercise the function of removing mayors, chairpersons and councillors from office on the grounds of, inter alia, inability or incapacity, gross incompetence, or gross misconduct. In their founding papers, as I have indicated above, the applicants averred that Act No. 8 of 2016 does not provide for the establishment of an independent tribunal as enjoined by s 278(2) of the Constitution and that this constitutes a serious failure on the part of Parliament and the President to fulfil a constitutional obligation. However, at the hearing of this matter, Mr. Madhuku, for the applicants, stated that the applicants were not persisting with the alternative argument that the provisions introduced by Act No. 8 of 2016 are inconsistent with s 278(2) of the Constitution. In the event, the consequent declaration of invalidity in this particular respect, in para. 3 of the draft order, was abandoned. Accordingly, it is not necessary for the Court to consider this aspect of the matter. DISTRIBUTED BY VERITAS e-mail: veritas@mango.zw; website: www.veritaszim.net Veritas makes every effort to ensure the provision of reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied. 6