Hope for Zimbabwe in 2010

Can it be that she has at last seen the light and has determined that she will no longer preside over a bench so lamentably stuffed with Zanu (PF) functionaries? If so, there is indeed hope for Zimbabwe in 2010.

The restoration of the rule of law is the one thing we need above all. Once this fundamental has been put into place, everything else will follow. It was the suspension of the rule of law by the Zanu (PF) government under Robert Mugabe in 2000 that marked the descent of our precious nation into the ugly pit from which it now endeavours to crawl.

Makarau mentions the separation of powers. It must be pointed out that this is not something to be bestowed by Mugabe, or indeed any other politician. The bench should simply insist upon it. It is a fundamental tenet of our legal system.

The judges should not continue to abrogate their responsibilities, as they have done for the past 10 years. And neither should they now be begging the politicians to give them what is rightfully theirs the judiciary is separate from the executive and the administration. All those on the bench should simply uphold the law and refuse to tolerate interference by politicians.

The trouble is that most members of the present bench have allowed themselves to be utterly compromised by Zanu (PF) through having their snouts well and truly embedded in the feeding trough.

This does not inspire confidence or respect. Our judges should lead by example.

We sympathise with what Makarau calls the appalling conditions of service for judges. However, may we remind the honourable Judge President and her colleagues that these appalling conditions have been the norm for most Zimbabweans since the collapse of the rule of law in 2000.

If the want to be taken seriously now, the judges need to take themselves seriously.

They need to show Zimbabweans, and the GNU, that they are beyond reproach. Those who have compromised themselves by accepting gifts of farms, plasma tvs and luxury vehicles from Gideon Gono and Mugabe, must return their ill-gotten gains and demonstrate that they have turned over a new leaf.

As long as they continue to invade farms themselves and then sit in judgement over a land dispute, they cannot think we will respect them.