Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

improvement in human rights and governance and to ensure that free and fair
elections can take place.
Access to justice
The justice system in Zimbabwe continues to be controlled by a system of patronage
which stifles judicial independence and continues to create a lack of confidence
around the rule of law. Two pieces of legislation, the Public Order and Security Act
2002, and the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, were regularly abused by the
attorney-general’s office, which is headed by political hardliner Johannes Tomana.
Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, which ensures that a
defendant remains in custody for at least a further seven days, was regularly invoked
by prosecutors after magistrates awarded bail to a defendant. For example, on 22
November, a prosecutor used this mechanism to prevent bail of $100 that had been
granted to Nqobani Ndlovu, a reporter for the independently owned Standard
newspaper.
The Supreme Court is slow in hearing cases and reaching judgments but one highprofile
case was concluded in 2010. The Supreme Court agreed with the claim of
Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu of Women of Zimbabwe Arise that their
constitutional rights were violated by their imprisonment in 2008. The pair
subsequently began proceedings to sue the police over their imprisonment and the
way they had been treated but the slow nature of justice does little to curb the culture
of impunity that surrounds state-sponsored violence and abuse.
A more positive sign was the judiciary’s stakeholder conference in November to
discuss establishing a formal family court. This bodes well for the future.
Political interference was suspected in many cases involving opposition politicians
and other human rights defenders in 2010. In May, the trial of Senator Roy Bennett
of the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC-T), was finally brought
to a close by the High Court’s dismissal of the prosecution’s case. The trial, which
began on 19 October 2009, saw Senator Bennett charged with terrorism,
insurgence, sabotage and banditry and carried the death penalty. Senator Bennett’s
swearing in as deputy minister of agriculture was one of MDC-T’s key outstanding
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