THE Second Republic under President Mnangagwa values the
independence of the Judiciary and will never interfere in court processes as is
being suggested by some oppositional forces and foreign governments, Justice,
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has said.
This comes as United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Brian
Nichols and a coterie of Western embassies have been exerting pressure on the
Government to interfere in the trial of political activists who are facing
charges of inciting public violence, by ordering the courts to release them.
However, Minister Ziyambi said even as Justice Minister, he
could not direct the courts to release someone from prison as that would be
gross interference, which has no place in a country that respects the doctrine
of separation of powers.
“My take as regard to (Ambassador) Nichols and all those
who are talking about the justice delivery system, is that they have lost it.
They want to bring in the Executive over cases that are before the courts. They
say the Judiciary should be independent and then say the Executive should
interfere.
“The Executive has nothing to do with cases that are before
the courts. I have indicated that they play a game of double standards. Over a
period spanning from end of March to May this year, I looked at the number of
cases that Government was party to the litigation, where we were being sued. Of
the 25 cases we only won six and lost the other 21 yet they don’t want to hear
about this and only come out screaming saying we have captured the Judiciary.
“Our take is for them to shut up and stop commenting on
cases before the courts. Leave the courts to do their work. I am not supposed
to interfere, the American ambassador is not supposed to interfere, who am I to
go to court and direct the courts to release somebody? I will be charged. The
suggestions by the foreign embassies are actually a violation of what they are
preaching. Constitutionalism dictates that I cannot, even if it’s my son, I
have to follow the due process of the law. But they want us to use our
Executive power inappropriately with these people. If they committed an
offence, the courts are there to declare that they are innocent, not us, not
the American ambassador, not whosoever,” Minister Ziyambi said.
Since coming to power, President Mnangagwa has walked the
straight and narrow path of constitutionalism and the rule of law. His
Government has repealed contentious pieces of legislation such as the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) as well as the Public Order
and Security Act (POSA), replacing them with more democratic laws.
Apart from striking down controversial laws, the Government
recently concluded a US$3.5 billion deal with white former farmers in
compliance with the 2013 Constitution that was voted for overwhelmingly in a
referendum.
However, the country’s detractors are blind to the giant
steps that have been taken in a small period of time to transform Zimbabwe both
politically and economically, in order to sustain their anti-Zimbabwe narrative,
they are now trying to smear the Judiciary.
“I don’t want to comment on matters before the courts, but
my take is that the very people and
their lawyers are playing a political game. They are not addressing the actual
issues that they will be facing and they are doing it for a purpose so that
they cry and say the Judiciary is captured.
“It is a well-planned issue. You hear them say our client
was arrested for busting corruption, but on the charge sheet it will not be
there. They must simply go and address the issues in court and deal with them.
I think they are simply playing a political game,” said Minister Ziyambi.
Some Western embassies have consistently turned a blind eye
on the political reforms that the Second Republic has instituted, including the
re-engagement and dialogue platforms that President Mnangagwa has availed to
both local and international players.
Their anti-Zimbabwe position dovetails with the opposition
agenda to paint a picture of a country in a crisis when in actual fact Zimbabwe
is just facing challenges that countries in the region are grappling with that
have been wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic and also successive droughts.
Apart from pandemics and the impact of climate change,
Zimbabwe has an extra-burden of the illegal economic sanctions that the Western
countries imposed at the turn of the millennium to punish Zimbabwe for the
revolutionary land reform programme. Herald
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