UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

ADMINISTRATIVE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAW LB0 04

JULY 2008

DURATION OF EXAMINATION: 3 HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS:

Answer FOUR questions.

Each question carries 20 marks. Where questions are subdivided into more than one
part, all parts of the question must be answered and the twenty marks for the question
will be equally divided between the subparts.

In this examination candidates may refer to their own annotated copies of Feltoe A
Guide to Zimbabwean Administrative and Local Government Law.

Question 1

It is impossible to achieve administrative justice if the administration is able to keep

secret most information relating to how it functions. Administrative justice will be far
more likely to be achieved if administrative authorities are much more open,
transparent and accountable, if they give reasons for all their actions and if they
encourage much more public participation in administrative decision making
processes.

Critically discuss this observation.

Question 2

Discuss the proposition that when reviewing administrative actions judges must
strictly restrict themselves to dealing only with issues of legality and procedural
fairness and must never delve into matters of administrative policy.

Question 3

Should bodies established in terms of the Constitution be obliged to comply with the
provisions of the Administrative Justice Act and are there any justifiable
circumstances in which administrative authorities which are established in terms of
ordinary statutes should be exempt from the duty to act lawfully and reasonably?
Question 4

Discuss the proposition that even where an administrative authority is given wide
discretionary powers, the courts should still be able to determine whether these
authorities had some reasonable foundation for the exercise of these powers or
whether the authorities used their powers in an entirely irrational or arbitrary manner.

Question 5

a) What is the reason why the courts will set aside an administrative decision
where actual bias has not been proved but only that there is a reasonable
suspicion of bias?
b) Even with the addition of the legitimate expectations doctrine, the remedy for
breaches of natural justice is a hollow remedy as all the courts can do is to
refer the matter back for a re-hearing.
Do you agree with this observation?

Question 6

Discuss the view that the Administrative Court would play a more meaningful role if
it was given the jurisdiction to review the decisions of all administrative bodies or,
alternatively, if it was given the jurisdiction to hear appeals from all administrative
decision rather than, as at present, only hearing such appeals as the legislature has
given it jurisdiction to hear.

Question 7

The Minister of Social Welfare, Mr Patrick Dube, has statutory powers to suspend the
executive committee of a non-governmental organisation whenever he considers that
the organisation is acting contrary to the aims and objectives for which it was
established. The Minister receives information from one of his officers, Mr Bhebe,
that an organisation called Human Rights Now has deviated from its aims and
objectives of seeking to promote the observance of human rights by supporting a
political party in opposition to the government. The Minister immediately suspends
the entire executive of the organisation, including its chairperson, Mr Chibwe, without
first asking the members of the executive to give their response to this allegation.

The legislation empowering the Minister to suspend an organisation’s executive

committee requires the Minister to appoint an investigating committee to look into the
allegation leading to the suspension. The legislature provides that the Minister must
appoint this investigating committee no later than 21 days after the members have
been notified of their suspension. The Minister appoints the investigating committee
only 8 months after the date upon which the members were notified of their
suspension. The person appointed to chair the Committee, Mr Sam Dube, is the
brother of the official who made the original allegation against the human rights
organisation. Mr Sam Dube is also a staunch supported of the ruling party.

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The investigation by the committee lasts for only one day. The committee interviews
Mr Bhebe in person for two hours, whereas the human rights organisation is simply
invited to submit a written response to the allegation. The Committee reports to the
Minister that the allegation is well founded and recommends that the Minister use his
powers to dismiss all the members of the executive committee and replace them with
a committee consisting of persons appointed by the Minister. The Minister accepts
these recommendations and dismisses the executive committee members and replaces
them with committee members appointed by him.

The Chairperson of the dismissed executive committee, Mr Chibwe, approaches you

to seek your advice whether he can take legal action to reverse the decision taken by
the Minister.

Question 8

We need to depoliticise urban local government. What we need are competent persons
with appropriate professional skills to run councils rather than persons elected simply
because of their political affiliations.

Critically discuss this comment.

Question 9

In your opinion what is ideal relationship between central government and local
government bodies, to what extent should central government be empowered to
interfere with the running of local government affairs, and should we incorporate into
our Constitution provisions relating to local government like those in the South
African Constitution?

END OF QUESTION PAPER