HARARE – The recent arrest of the Attorney General, Sobusa Gula Ndebele, on
allegations of Contravening Section 174 (1) of the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 has once again shown the ZANU
(PF) regime’s lack of appreciation and understanding of the concepts of the
rule of law, separation of powers and independence of the Attorney General’s
office. The action shows a contempt and disdain for constitutional
principles and is symptomatic of a regime that has lost its way and
direction.
While we hold no brief for Mr. Gula Ndebele and we express no opinion on the
correctness or otherwise of the decision he is alleged to have made in
relation to Mr. Mushore, our concern as the Movement Democratic Change is
that the behavior of the Police undermines the remaining vestiges of the
public’s confidence in the justice delivery system. Over the years we have
witnessed the battering that the rule of law has received at the hands of
the ZANU (PF) regime and this latest incident simply reinforces the point
that we must return to constitutionalism and respect of our institutions.
While our constitution is defective and needs a complete overhaul, it does
give some independence to the judiciary and the Attorney General and in this
regard Section 76(7) of the constitution is clear and unambiguous in that it
gives unfettered powers to the Attorney General and it states that he or she
“shall not be subject to the direction and control of any person or
authority”. One would therefore have expected that in the exercise of his
duties the Attorney General is vested with discretionary powers in matters
relating to prosecutions.
In any civilized society, there are ways of dealing with issues and if it
was felt that the Attorney General had exceeded the bonds of the powers
vested in him, then the proper procedures would be to institute proceedings
for his removal instead of hauling him before the Police as a common
criminal.
Unfortunately, Zimbabwe is neither a civilized nor a democratic country and
it would be too much to expect the ZANU (PF) regime to pay any regard to
legal nicecities and Zimbabwean citizens have over the years been victims of
this high handed approach only for the cases to collapse due to lack of
evidence.
It is not only members of the opposition and civil society who have been
arrested on trumped up charges and the arrest of the Attorney General comes
in the wake of the acquittal of Levison Chikafu, the Manicaland Area Public
Prosecutor. Mr. Chikafu was not even placed on his defence and he was
cleared of all five charges he was facing after being discharged at the
close of the state case. He made allegations that his prosecution was
politically motivated because he had the courage to prosecute some high
profile individuals.
The ZANU (PF) regime has shown in the past that it is not comfortable with
people who execute their duties in a professional way and it has a long
history of ignoring legal advise given to it. It was not comfortable with
the previous Attorney General and one hopes that we are not witnessing a
situation where this is persecution and harassment related to political
differences. We have noted that the Attorney General’s Office Bill which
went through its first reading and received a non adverse report from the
Parliamentary Legal Committee has not seen the light of day and is gathering
some dust in some office somewhere and one wonders whether there is a link
between the latest incident and the Bill.
As the Movement for Democratic Change, we believe that Zimbabwe can only
move forward when we have a government which derives its mandate from the
people through elections which are held freely and fairly under a democratic
people driven constitution. It is only such a government which can observe
democratic norms and standards and respect its institutions, the rule of law
and democracy. Expecting ZANU (PF) to do so is to live in world cuckooland
and expect that a leopard can change its spots. – Innocent Gonese (MP),
Secretary for Justice Legal And Parliamentary Affairs
Post published in: News