LONDON - The ZANU-PF minister of justice, Patrick Chinamasa is pushing for the arrest of Home Affairs co-Minister Theresa Makone, alleging she interfered with the judiciary by questioning the fraudulent grabbing of farms by officials using fake offer letters.
Chinamasa said: “I feel compelled to draw your attention to the fact that writing or copying communication to the chief justice, raising issues which have been argued before the supreme court and over which judgement is pending, constitutes a serious contempt of court.”Contempt of court is a criminal offence and renders you liable to arrest and prosecution.
“The worst thing in your communication was regurgitating arguments almost verbatim submitted to the supreme court by the legal counsel representing white farmers and resubmitting, as it were, these same arguments to the supreme court.”I write to ask that you desist from sending communications to members of the judiciary. Such behaviour is unethical and unacceptable and constitutes a direct interference with the work of the judiciary.” In her letter, she said: “The common complaint is that some individuals, often accompanied by rowdy thugs, have besieged farms armed with offer letters and effected unlawful eviction of farmers.
“In many instances these evictions are carried out despite high court orders specifically barring such evictions.”Failure to follow the correct procedure for land allocation has opened up avenues for corruption. The claim is that certain government employees from the Ministry of Lands have been the source of these offer letters. There is therefore a need for the law pertaining to land allocation to be clarified and a clear message to be sent from within the government.
“I now implore you, as the chief law officer of government, to assist us at the Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure that the law is applied accordingly. If I have overlooked any part of the law, I humbly stand to be corrected by yourself as our lawyer. I thought that it might be prudent to clear my understanding before engaging the executive,” wrote Makone.
The minister also attached a copy of a fake letter which was used by a Charles Nyachowe, who is related to Mugabe and Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo.According to Makone’s letter, Nyachowe has occupied a farm after using a fake offer letter, having forcibly evicted an 82-year-old woman.
Chinamasas job is to promote the rule of law instead of going after individuals who are seeking proper justice based on the laws of Zimbabwe. Who is Chinamasa tying to protect? The fact is that ZANU-PF thugs have been caught out in this case abusing the land resettlement programme using fake offer letters to grab farms. Obviously Minister Chinamasa seems to think that his ZANU-PF colleagues are above the law. The Home-Affairs Minister should stand up to the ZANU-PF hardliners and tell them to get lost. It is Nyachowe who should be arrested and not Makone. Mr Chinamasa please stop this nonsense and focus on bringing the rule of law back to Zimbabwe. – Thenjiwe Moyo and Maureen Zuwaradoka
Post published in: News