The Rule of Law in Zimbabwe

Opinion — By on November 26, 2009 9:49 pm

By Brilliant Pongo

Much has been said about the lack of, or in some quarters the complete absence of the rule of law in Zimbabwe, our judicial system has come under a lot of fire from those critical of everything Zimbabwean.

Going by what one reads in the media, one would be forgiven to think that Zimbabwe is a lawless country with a collapsed judiciary, a country where each man is a law unto himself.

Alas, such is not the case Zimbabwe is a country with functioning legal structures and a court system that is anything but collapsed, as a matter of fact many aspects better than a lot of other countries in terms of procedures, which are clearly defined.

Those who argue that the rule of law is absent never say exactly what is missing; it would be interesting to hear how it is that they say there is no rule of law in Zimbabwe.

Some self-appointed champions of the ‘Rule of Law’ elect to scream and shout, ‘there is no rule of law, there is no rule of law Zimbabwe is lawless’ but failing to sighting court cases that support their claims.

The worrying thing is that these have become common phrases amongst Zimbabweans mainly those in the Diaspora so much that some people just drop these lines willy-nilly whenever they are debating or discussing issues about Zimbabwe.

However, our judiciary is fully functional as evidence by the arrest and conviction of the likes of Gary Blanchard, John Lamonte Dixon, and Joseph Wendell Pettyjohn in 1999 and that of Simon Mann in 2004 as celebrity prisoners.

Tendai Biti had charges withdrawn before plea in terms of the rule of law. MDC (T) legislator Blessing Chebundo was acquitted of rape charges, minister Mahlangu was acquitted in terms of rule of law, to sight but a few examples.

In 2004 we had the treason trial of Morgan Tsvangirai, a lot of theories were postulated, with regards to the rule of law in Zimbabwe, the professional competence of our judges was put to question, many thought the judges would be influenced by President Mugabe, however, Judge Paddington Garwe pronounced Tsvangirai innocent in a long-awaited judgment, saying the prosecution’s treason case was not credible.

Did not this case prove that we have the rule of law? Which is simply defined as the doctrine that no individual is above the law and that everyone must answer to it? Did not our judges prove that they are capable of passing impartial judgment? However, Roy Bennett’s’ racist friends in the western media would have us believe otherwise.

The western media is awash with stories of Roy Bennett’s case in fact another MDC official Blessing Chebundo’s rape case came and went unnoticed in the western media. Which begs the question what is it about Bennett that attracts so much western media attention, that Chebundo an MDC founding member has not got?

Bennett is facing charges linked to a convicted criminal who is his friend and one time accuser, same said friend was actually tried and convicted per rule of law, with full legal representation of his choice, after conviction he accepted and never even launched an appeal, so a prima facie case against Bennett was established meaning only due process as is happening would be the only route, anything else would be the notorious absence of rule of law.

A closer look at the real writers of these articles is necessary why the crusade to demonize our judicial structures? I ask the question, could they be disgruntled former Rhodesians finding gratification in seeing Zimbabwe on fire? The same disgruntled lots are the bona fide correspondence for the likes of the telegraph, New York Times etc.

Because of their global reach their stories are picked on the wires re-edited and redistributed by people who have never been to Zimbabwe. Even internet publications including those owned and run by black Zimbabweans latch onto these Rhodesian authored stories and publish them without so much as check of the authenticity of the claims therein.

All we have heard so far are loud shouts and choruses, to the effect that ‘there is no rule of law in Zimbabwe’, however, not a single instance of the absence of rule of law has ever been specifically pinpointed or addressed with case details. Indeed not a single entity including the legal fraternity has come up with this beyond the western inclined media.

How are we expected to reconcile and build our country, if as is the case, former racists are unashamedly fighting with not only false, but mostly unsubstantiated propagandist claims about the absence of the rule of law as an extension to the war against land reform, whatever our opinions on that nationwide exercise that was an inevitable eventuality?

Does a nation lose the rule of law when western preferred popular members of parliament or opposition officials are charged with serious crimes and sent through the court system? Do they not owe it to the nation to stand trial in the legal courts of law to defend themselves if accused of serious allegations?

One then wonders why there seems to be some sort of campaign to get the charges against Roy Bennett dropped? If Bennett has no case to answer let the courts determine that, why should we even have the western media planting silly ideas in minds of the gullible suggesting legally pursuing Bennett may jeopardize the GNU?

Is not the whole argument for the respect for the rule of law put to question by these suggestions?

Many cases go through the Zimbabwean courts on a daily basis and a lot of positive and great things are achieved by our legal structures each day, many who have broken the law are apprehended and face justice but none of these positives are reported, on the contrary what is highlighted to the western world by the media are cases engineered to portray Zimbabwe as a country with no rule of law, a lawless and ungovernable country.

These are the questions we should not be afraid to ask, there are enough former Rhodesian supporters and sympathizers who are prepared to campaign for and on behalf of their own. One only has to look at the likes of Jan Raath a typical Boer, the likes of Peta Thornycroft a direct beneficiary of colonial land theft via patronage of her father who got land for having loyally served in the royal air force.

Our Zimbabwean journalists are failing to question the motivation of these journalists, yet when their articles appear in the western media our lazy Zim journos latch onto the Rhodie propaganda which they then regurgitate to readers of the various Zimbabwean run online media as biblical truths simply because the article(s) has been published by the British Times, The Daily Telegraph, New York Post or Canada Telegraph etc.

So basically the conclusion to the Chebundo question becomes he had no racist connections to fight for him in the mainstream western media he could not make it on to the western media because he was not one of ‘them’ and thus, only the likes of Newzimbabwe.com, zimdaily and the nehandaradio.com’s could do the media bidding for poor Chebundo after all he is one of ‘us’.

Brilliant Pongo is a Zimbabwean media studies researcher studying in the UK. He can be contacted at pongobrilliant@talktalk.net

Did you find this information helpful? If you did, consider donating to fund our operations.

For breaking news alerts on Zimbabwe click here Tags: