Harare attacks IBA report

Zimbabwe had an “unwavering commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law”, Jonathan Moyo, minister of information has told the ‘Financial Times’. Dismissing criticism from the International Bar Association (IBA) that the government had placed “the fabric of democracy at risk”, Moyo was quoted as saying in a Tuesday report that it was “self-evident to any fair-minded person that the judicial system in Zimbabwe is functioning well” and without any interference, “save perhaps from teams such as the IBA whose report seeks to inflame an otherwise settled situation”.

The IBA report was compiled by a seven-member IBA mission which included high-ranking lawyers, judges and former chief justices from South Africa, Namibia, India, the Caribbean, the US and Britain. It traced present tensions to the government’s refusal to act against illegal land occupation by so-called veterans of Zimbabwe’s armed struggle for independence, selective application of the law and intimidation of members of the judiciary.

According to the ‘Financial Times’, the team privately feared that a failure to act now to protect the judiciary may contribute to a further erosion of law and order in the run-up to presidential elections scheduled for next year. “We fear that the pursuit and maintenance of power is what is driving a number of senior official on,” one official was quoted as saying. Moyo said such criticism reflected “an imaginary and self-serving situation painted and prayed for by those who hope to benefit from a situation of social chaos in Zimbabwe”.