(NEWZIMBABWE) No rule of law in Zimbabwe? Nonsense!

No rule of law in Zimbabwe? Nonsense!
by Brilliant Pongo
27/11/2009 00:00:00

MUCH has been said about the lack of, or in some quarters the complete absence of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. Our judicial system has come under a lot of fire from those critical of everything Zimbabwean.

Going by what one reads in the media, one would be forgiven to think that Zimbabwe is a lawless country with a collapsed judiciary, a country where each man is a law unto himself.

Alas, such is not the case. Zimbabwe is a country with functioning legal structures and a court system that is anything but collapsed. As a matter of fact, many aspects of our judicial system are better than those of a lot of other countries in terms of procedures, which are clearly defined.

Those who argue that the rule of law is absent never say exactly what is missing, it would certainly be interesting to hear how it is that they say there is no rule of law in Zimbabwe.

Some self-appointed champions of the ‘Rule of Law’ elect to scream and shout, ‘there is no rule of law; Zimbabwe is lawless’ but fail to point court cases that support their claims.

The worrying thing is that these have become such a common phrases amongst Zimbabweans, mainly those in the Diaspora and their NGO colleagues, so much that some people just drop these lines willy-nilly whenever they are debating or discussing issues about Zimbabwe.

However, our judiciary is fully functional as evidence by the arrest and conviction of the likes of Gary Blanchard, John Lamonte Dixon, and Joseph Wendell Pettyjohn in 1999 and that of Simon Mann in 2004 as celebrity prisoners.

Tendai Biti had charges withdrawn before plea in terms of the rule of law. MDC (T) legislator Blessing Chebundo was acquitted of rape charges, Deputy Youth Minister Thamsanqa Mahlangu was acquitted in terms of rule of law, to cite but a few examples.

In 2004, we had the treason trial of Morgan Tsvangirai. A lot of theories were postulated, with regards to the rule of law in Zimbabwe. The professional competence of our judges was put to question, many thought the judges would be influenced by President Robert Mugabe.

However, Judge Paddington Garwe pronounced Tsvangirai innocent in a long-awaited judgment, saying the prosecution's treason case was not credible. Did not this case prove that we have the rule of law? Which is simply defined as the doctrine that no individual is above the law, and that everyone must answer to it?

Did not our judges prove that they are capable of passing impartial judgment, however much Roy Bennett’s’ racist friends in the western media would have us believe otherwise?

The western media is awash with stories of Bennett’s case as if he is the only MDC official to go to court. A very senior MDC official Blessing Chebundo was recently in court charged with rape, a case which came and went unnoticed in the western media. Which begs the question what is it about Bennett that attracts so much western media attention that Chebundo, an MDC founding member, has not got?

Bennett is facing charges associated with a convicted criminal who is his friend and one time accuser. The same said friend was actually tried and convicted per rule of law, with full legal representation of his choice, after conviction he accepted and never even launched an appeal, so a prima facie case against Bennett was established meaning only due process as is happening would be the only correct legal path, and anything else would be the notorious absence of rule of law.

A closer look at the real writers of these articles is necessary. What feeds this crusade to demonise our judicial structures? I ask the question, could they be disgruntled former Rhodesians finding gratification in seeing Zimbabwe on fire?

The same disgruntled lot are the bona fide correspondents for the likes of the Daily Telegraph, New York Time, Sunday Times etc. Because of their global reach, their stories are picked on the wires, re-edited and redistributed by people who have never been to Zimbabwe.

Even internet publications, including those owned and run by black Zimbabweans latch onto these Rhodesian-authored stories and publish them without so much as check the authenticity of the claims therein.

All we have heard so far are loud shouts and choruses, to the effect that ‘there is no rule of law in Zimbabwe’. Not a single instance of the absence of rule of law has ever been specifically pinpointed. Indeed, not a single entity including the legal fraternity, has come up with this beyond the western inclined media.

How are we expected to reconcile and build our country, if as is the case, former racists are unashamedly fighting with not only false, but mostly unsubstantiated propagandist claims about the absence of the rule of law as an extension to the war against land reform?

Does a nation lose the rule of law when western-preferred popular members of parliament or opposition officials are charged with serious crimes and sent through the court system? Do they not owe it to the nation to stand trial in the legal courts of law to defend themselves if accused of serious allegations?

One then wonders why there seems to be some sort of campaign to get the charges against Bennett dropped. If Bennett has no case to answer, let the courts determine that, why should we even have the western media planting silly ideas in the minds of the gullible, suggesting legally-pursuing Bennett may jeopardise the government of national unity? Is not the whole argument for the respect of the rule of law put to question by these suggestions?

Many cases go through the Zimbabwe courts on a daily basis and a lot of positive and great things are achieved by our legal structures. Many who have broken the law are apprehended and face justice, but none of these positives are reported. On the contrary, what is highlighted to the western world by the media are cases engineered to portray Zimbabwe as a country with no rule of law, a lawless and ungovernable country.
These are the questions we should not be afraid to ask. There are enough former Rhodesian supporters and sympathisers who are prepared to campaign for and on behalf of their own.

Our Zimbabwean journalists are failing to question the motivation of these Rhodesian-linked journalists, yet when their articles appear in the western media our lazy Zimbabwe journalists latch onto the Rhodie propaganda which they then regurgitate to readers of the various Zimbabwean run online media as biblical truths, simply because the articles have been published by the Times, The Daily Telegraph, New York Post etc.

So, basically, the conclusion to the Chebundo question becomes that he had no racist connections to fight for him in the mainstream western media. He could not make it onto the western media because he was “not one of them”.

Brilliant Pongo is a Zimbabwean media studies researcher studying in the UK. He can be contacted at pongobrilliant@talktalk.net