Zimbabwean rule of law in ‘gravest peril’ say lawyers

AP reported that according to a report compiled by a panel of seven judges and lawyers from the International Bar Association, the alleged disdain President Robert Mugabe’s government had shown for the country’s judiciary and its failure to protect judges from intimidation “puts the very fabric of democracy at risk”. “The events of the past 12 months have put the rule of law in Zimbabwe in the gravest peril,” the lawyers’ report was quoted as saying. It also detailed what it called “unrelenting and vicious” harassment of judges by government officials, war veterans and others. The report accused the Zimbabwean government of ignoring the country’s constitution and laws by failing to enforce judicial rulings ordering violent occupiers off white-owned farms. The report said killings and assaults on land owners could have been prevented if officials had enforced court orders to evict the occupiers, who said they were seeking land reform and social justice, AP reported. It also sharply criticised the forced retirement of the independent-minded former Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay and the government’s decision not to prosecute or condemn 200 veterans who stormed the Supreme Court in November, allegedly shouting “Kill the judges”. “Instead of making a clear and principled call to others to uphold the law, (the government’s) own example is of contempt for the law and the orders of the Court,” the report said. “This attitude creates a culture of lawlessness which cannot be appropriate in a democratic society.” Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, denying the allegations against the government, accused the bar group of bias when they visited Zimbabwe on a fact-finding mission in March and predicted that their report would contribute to “a new wave of international condemnation” of the country. The bar association, a lawyers’ and judges’ group with 16,000 members in 183 countries, dismissed that charge. The panel it sent to Zimbabwe included former Indian Chief Justice Aziz Ahmadi, Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Chief Justice Sir Dennis Byron, US District Judge Andre Davis and Lord Goldsmith, former chairman of the Bar Council of England and Wales.