{"id":3095,"date":"2019-02-04T12:42:35","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T12:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=3095"},"modified":"2019-02-04T12:42:35","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T12:42:35","slug":"zanu-pf-has-failed-to-break-from-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zanu-pf-has-failed-to-break-from-the-past","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Zanu PF has failed to break from the past\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

MDC secretary for justice and legal affairs Innocent Gonese has raised concern over what he called was the \u201clack of rule of law\u201d in the country, saying the nation had witnessed an alarming level of human rights abuses by the Executive, army, police, Judiciary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no break from the past. What has happened over the last few weeks is a negation of what our liberation fighters fought for and is a return to the dark ages. For starters, the involvement of the army is on its own problematic and the situation is worsened by the reports and scenes of brutality which are there for all to see,\u201d Gonese said in a statement yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe victimisation, sexual abuse and rape of women is inexcusable. The situation is compounded by the failure of the police to carry out their role in a professional non-partisan manner. What we have witnessed is the wanton disregard of the elementary rules of the game, whereby section 50 of our Constitution is respected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Gonese\u2019s statement comes as the Zanu PF-led government has failed to withdraw soldiers who were deployed onto the streets to quell the violent protests that erupted mid-January.<\/p>\n

Human rights groups say 12 people were shot and killed during the protests by security forces, while over a hundred were injured. There are also reports of women being raped by members of the armed forces.<\/p>\n

Last year, six people were killed by the military in the violence that followed elections on July 30, as demonstrators protested against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission\u2019s delay in announcing presidential poll results.<\/p>\n

Gonese criticised the courts for not affording those brutalised and arrested after the January protests due protection of the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cLawyers have raised serious issues of concern regarding violations of the rights of accused persons such as the right to be treated humanely and with dignity, the right to challenge the lawfulness of their arrest and most importantly not be detained for more than 48 hours before appearing in court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt is bad enough that some victims have been badly assaulted, but for the prosecuting authorities and magistrates to take a cavalier approach and ignore such blatant violations is a new low even for Zimbabwe. This is compounded by what appears to be a choreographed and well-scripted approach, where bail applications are either not entertained or simply dismissed without the batting of an eyelid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is trite law over time immemorial that bail is a right and that where the presumption of innocence operates, courts should lean favour of granting bail as long as the interest of justice would not be prejudiced. But refusing to even hear bail applications on the pretext that the State is ready for trial is unheard of and yet these are the disturbing reports that have been witnessed in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Gonese said other disturbing aspects were mass trials carried out late in the evening, the arrests of juveniles and falsification of charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur law gives adequate protection to such vulnerable groups, but sadly, this has been ignored for the expediency of maintaining the fa\u00e7ade,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The MDC top official said the justice delivery system had been found wanting and called upon judicial officers and the prosecution to introspect and reflect upon their oath of office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a political, but fundamental issue which lies at the heart of constitutionalism, justice and the rule of law. The game must be played fairly in accordance with the dictates enshrined in our Constitution and ventilated over the years by our courts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gonese said when the legal year opened, Chief Justice Luke Malaba dwelt on the need for the rule of law, which is now being flagrantly disregarded.<\/p>\n

South Africa-based Zimbabwean political activist Fortune Mlalazi said the army\u2019s role needed to be defined.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now, we are seeing 2002, 2008 political activities that people went through under [former President Robert] Mugabe. We need to be able to define the role of the police and the army. We all know these roles. What it means is that at the moment, the police are now ineffective and useless hence the army has taken over the role of policing, but the policing of it is more in a military style, which is what they think will work in terms of maintaining law and order, but in that act they are being lawless,\u201d Mlalazi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am tempted to believe that these are political soldiers, many of them are Border Gezi-trained militia who have political inclination rather than constitutional obligations. So we have a huge problem on our hands in terms of abuse and violation of human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said there was need for urgent security sector reform.<\/p>\n

Zapu spokesperson Iphithule Maphosa said the country had degenerated from Mugabe\u2019s police State to President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s military State.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn that day [November 18, 2017], we missed an opportunity to reclaim from Zanu PF our State institutions that include the military, Judiciary, Legislative and Executive systems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA wrong precedence was set when we allowed the military to openly meddle in politics as we endorsed the coup against Mugabe and failed to immediately return soldiers to the barracks. It was then that we lost the rule of law. We need to collectively reclaim the civilian politics space by making sure the military is removed and civilians occupy the political space and this is possible through the transitional authority that will lead in transforming the constitutional institutions as we prepare for an election that is free and fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
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MDC secretary for justice and legal affairs Innocent Gonese has raised concern over what he called was the \u201clack of rule of law\u201d in the country, saying the nation had witnessed an alarming level of human rights abuses by the Executive, army, police, Judiciary. \u201cThere is no break from the past. What has happened over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,35,12],"tags":[38,88,31],"class_list":["post-3095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-zanu-pf","tag-mdc","tag-mnangagwa"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Zanu PF has failed to break from the past\u2019 - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zanu-pf-has-failed-to-break-from-the-past\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Zanu PF has failed to break from the past\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MDC secretary for justice and legal affairs Innocent Gonese has raised concern over what he called was the \u201clack of rule of law\u201d in the country, saying the nation had witnessed an alarming level of human rights abuses by the Executive, army, police, Judiciary. \u201cThere is no break from the past. 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