Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal |53 evaluating, selecting or shortlisting process is the fact that some of the candidates who attended the public interviews performed dismally and this was noted even by ordinary members of the public. Some of the candidates did not have adequate knowledge of the law and procedures. The question is then whether these persons were properly passed through the screening or vetting process. If they did, questions remain on the nature and manner of the secret vetting and process itself. 2.5.6 List of qualified persons, appointment or rejection The other function of JSC is to submit a list of three qualified persons as nominees to the President,69 whereupon the President must appoint one of the nominees to office. However, the President holds an ace card. He may reject the list of three nominees that has been submitted by the JSC using s 180(3). The JSC will then be required to submit a second list from which the President must choose one nominee.70 This may sound like a buffer for ensuring that a “suitable” candidate” is chosen although it may be a point for further discussion as to whether the phrase “fit and proper person”71 to hold office as a judge and the phrase “suitable for appointment”72 are referring to the same qualities or not. However, it is inevitable that there is a degree of pressure on the JSC when the President rejects the first list, and there is need for a second list to be submitted to him. Manyatera and Fombad stated that the fact that executive discretion is limited to the list submitted by the commission goes a long way in guaranteeing the separation of powers and independence of the commission at the appointment stages.73 This point is contested and contradicted by Chiduza, however, who argues that the President might refuse to make an appointment if his preferred candidates are not included on the first list submitted by the JSC.74 This is a vital point, and we associate with Chiduza as there is no safeguard in the Constitution against this eventuality. Magaisa, alive to the dangers of Presidential nominations, suggests that the only safeguard to curb this is the disclosure of 69 Section 180(2)(d) and (e) 70 A. Magaisa op cit note 47 71 Sections 177(2), 178(2) and 179(2) 72 Section 180 (3) 73 Manyatera and Fombad op cit note 6 at 21 74 L.Chiduza op cit note 26 at 382.