Mutasa threatens prosecutor

decade, put party officials and their sidekicks above the law. In the past, judges were mostly on the receiving end of the party thugs’ terror tactics. Several fled the country, others were arrested and forced to quit. This month, not a single magistrate could be found in Manicaland brave enough to hear the corruption trial of justice minister Patrick Chinamasa. And now even the prosecutor has refused to present his final arguments in the case, because state security minister Didymus Mutasa has sued him for libel. Informed observers say the Z$100 million lawsuit has no chance of succeeding as Mutasa is attempting to sue Chikafu for statements made in a court of law, which is subject to privilege (and therefore exempt from libel). However Mutasa is pressing ahead, in what observers say is intimidation. Chinamasa is accused of trying to intimidate or coerce witnesses from giving evidence in a separate trial of public violence charges against Mutasa’s supporters dating back to 2002. Mutasa’s lawyer Gerald Mlothswa has apparently given Chikafu an August 18 deadline to retract the alleged defamatory statements or face the lawsuit. The prosecutor was quoted by the media as saying Mutasa was a powerful person whose wings must be clipped. “The fact that he has not been brought to trial does not mean that he is not coming,” he is alleged to have said. Constitutional law expert Dr Lovemore Madhuku told Newsreel that the timing of Mutasa’s lawsuit was clearly designed to put pressure on the prosecutor before Chinamasa’s trial ended. He slammed the suit as an abuse of the courts saying even the lawyers involved knew it had little chance of success. – Own correspondent/Lance Guma, SW Radio Africa