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Issue No 122
21 March 2005
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Zimbabwe: Wider view needed to call the election
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A plea has gone out to observers of next week’s Zimbabwe election not to judge
whether the poll is free and fair based on what they have seen over just a few
weeks, writes E-Briefs. Five years of violence, political intimidation, voting
irregularities and restrictive legislation have skewed Zimbabwe's electoral
playing field in favour of President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, Human
Rights Watch said in a report issued today (Monday). The New York-based group is
the latest of several local and international rights organisations to sound the alarm
about the March 31 polls. Researcher Tiseke Kasambala urged governments of the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) – among the few invited to
observe Zimbabwe's elections – to take into account abuses in the long run-up to
the polls. Otherwise, he says, ‘SADC's ability to foster democratic change in the
region will be compromised’. Human Rights Watch's 35-page report documents
cases of political intimidation against opposition parties, their supporters and other
citizens by the ruling Zanu-PF and its allies.
Full report on the IoL site
Contact Us
Amnesty International agrees the polls cannot be free and fair. The watchdog,
which sent a fact-finding team to Zimbabwe last month, said in a report that,
although the level of violence was lower than in the run-ups to previous polls, the
playing field was far from level, says a News24 report. ‘ Zimbabweans are unable
to take part in the election process freely and without fear,’ said Kolawole
Olaniyan, Director of the Africa Programme.
Quotes of the Week
‘The elections will be run,
as in the past, by a clique
of Zanu PF officials who
cannot be trusted to run a
free and fair poll.’
– Advocate Adrian de
Bourbon, who is
representing Zimbabwe’s
Movement for
Democratic Change in its
court challenge of the
country’s electoral laws
Full report on News24 site
‘The twin evils of bribery
Its view is supported in another report, which says Zimbabwe’s judicial system
has been found to be ‘profoundly compromised’. Endemic corruption and political
interference in the judiciary are worsening, according to a Business Day report on
the release of two new studies. Transparency International, the Berlin-based nongovernment organisation that fights corruption, says in its report that graft in
Zimbabwe ‘has drastically increased over the past year’, and is a leading cause of
the country’s economic decline. ‘The appointment of the higher judiciary in
Zimbabwe is subject to political interference,’ it says. An International Council of
Advocates and Barristers’ report says the judicial system in the country ‘has
become profoundly compromised over the past four years’, largely due to
judges doing the bidding of the ruling Zanu PF party.
Full report in Business Day
Meanwhile, the fight goes on to level the playing field. The opposition
and corruption have
become the order of the
day in the country.’
– Swaziland Minister of
Finance Majozi Sithole
Movement for Democratic Change is instigating a court action in a last ditch attempt
to overhaul the electoral laws. The MDC, reports Zim Online, has filed an
application in the High Court demanding that all structures set up by the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission, established under the new laws and tasked with running
elections in Zimbabwe, be declared ‘null and void’. The MDC says President
‘Today he r apes, tomorrow Robert Mugabe has militarised key electoral bodies to secure victory at the
he is sitting in jail eating my polls and that the commission, whose members were appointed by Mugabe, lacks
sufficient clout to make independent decisions. It also charges that most of the
money. It is painful to me
as taxpayer (that) I have to officials manning the commission were not appointed in time and are nominally
feed the bliksem
employed by the election body in violation of the electoral law.
(scoundrel).’
– Namibian Prisons
Deputy Minister Jeremiah
Nambinga, arguing in the
National Assembly for
the reinstatement of the
death penalty
‘What they have done is to
bring my underpants out to
the general public.’
– Former Zambian
president Frederick
Chiluba, commenting on
a police raid in Lusaka
where his clothes and
shoes were seized from a
warehouse
‘Mozambicans are tired of
crimes without criminals,
thefts without thieves,
murders without
murderers.’
– Mozambican
opposition MP Rui de
Sousa’s response to the
Attorney-General’s
annual report, which
came in for heated
criticism
The views expressed in this
newsletter are a reflection of
those contained in the original
reports to which they are linked
here, and are not necessarily
those of the International Bar
Association.
Full report by Zim Online
There is bad news for Zimbabweans living in exile. The Supreme Court has
dismissed their application to be allowed to vote in the election. Chief Justice
Godfrey Chidyausiku, sitting with two other judges, Vernanda Ziyambi and Luke
Malaba, did not give full reasons why the application was denied, only saying the
highest court in the land had ‘unanimously concluded that the application has no
merit and is hereby dismissed’, reports Zim Online. Chidyausiku said he would
release details of the judgment in due course. The action was brought by a group
of seven Zimbabweans living outside the country, known as the Diaspora Vote
Action Group. They had argued the government had breached their constitutionally
guaranteed right to vote by refusing to allow them to participate in the election.
Full report by Zim Online
Jailed opposition MP Roy Bennet will be able to stand for re-election. Zim
Online reports Zimbabwe’s new Electoral Court made this surprising ruling last
week. The court said Bennett could stand for re-election in parliamentary polls, and
postponed the vote in his constituency to April 30 to make it possible. Also
last week, the High Court upheld the 12-month jail sentence imposed on Bennett, of
the MDC, after parliamentary colleagues found him guilty of assaulting a Minister
during a debate. But the Electoral Court, part of a package of political reforms that
President Robert Mugabe’s government has implemented in the run-up to the
elections, upheld an appeal by Bennett. However, President Robert Mugabe is
reportedly upset with the court’s decision and has said it will be appealed.
Full report by Zim Online
Constitutional lawyers and the opposition have slammed Mugabe on the
issue. He said the ruling was ‘madness’ and urged his party to ignore the ruling.
University of Zimbabwe constitutional law lecturer, Lovemore Madhuku, said
Mugabe’s utterances were inflammatory and disrespectful of the courts, reports Zim
Online. ‘ Mugabe was not a party to the court application so why is he
interfering with court decisions which do not involve him directly?’ Harare
lawyer Stenford Moyo warned that use of intemperate language against judges and
the courts ‘may undermine the independence and authority of the judiciary’.
Full report by Zim Online
In a new twist, Police have accused the MDC of training its youth members to
disrupt the polls, claiming five MDC youths have surrendered and are assisting with
investigations into training they received in South Africa to handle explosives. ‘The
MDC wanted to commit acts of violence so that Zanu PF and the government
of Zimbabwe would be viewed as the perpetrators of that violence,’ Assistant
Commissioner Boysen Matema, of the police law and order section, is quoted as
saying in a report in The Witness. However, the MDC has strongly denied the
report, first published in the government-run newspaper, the Sunday Mail.
Full report in The Witness
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Rwanda: Former leader jailed for genocide
The UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has sentenced former Rwandan
civic leader, Vincent Rutaganira (60), to six years in prison after he pleaded guilty to
involvement in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Rutaganira is the fourth man to have
pleaded guilty to genocide before the tribunal. Former Rwandan Prime Minister
Jean Kambanda was the first to plead guilty before the tribunal, reports IRIN. He is
serving a life sentence in Mali. Rutaganira will serve only three years of his
sentence as he has already been in prison for three years. In terms of the deal
reached with prosecutors, Rutaganira acknowledged full culpability for the
deaths of thousands of Tutsi civilians who took refuge at Mubuga Church in
Kibuye in April 1994. He admitted that he took no action to protect the Tutsi
refugees in the commune where he was a government official during the genocide.
Full IRIN report
An official says at least 761 000 people should stand trial for their role in the
country's 1994 genocide. Secretary General of the Rwandan Justice Ministry
General Johnston Busingye claimed that nearly a 10th of the 8.2 million
population had been identified as having a role in the 100 days of violence in
which more than 500 000 minority Tutsis and Hutu moderates died, reports The
Guardian. Some 63 000 suspects are already being held after an inquiry by
community-based courts.
Full report in The Guardian
N igeria: Judge fights his dismissal in court
A former High Court Judge, Chrys Selong, last week began his case against
President Olusegun Obasanjo and the National Judicial Council, reports THISDAY.
Senlong said he was dismissed as a judge without being given an opportunity
to defend himself. His axing followed allegations that he had tried to influence the
decision of the defunct Akwa Ibom State Legislative Houses and Governorship
Election Petition Tribunal.
Full report in THISDAY
South Africa: Fraud MPs will keep their seats
The five South African MPs found guilty of defrauding Parliament will not lose their
seats. According to section 47(1)(e) of the Constitution, MPs would have to be
convicted and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option
of a fine, before being considered unfit for office. The five were convicted of
defrauding Parliament of various amounts in the Cape Town Regional Court.
Magistrate Johnny Vermeulen handed down sentences ranging from R40 000, or
one year's direct imprisonment, to R80 000, or three years' imprisonment, as part of
a plea agreement. The MPs are the first of 23 MPs implicated in the
multimillion-rand travel-voucher scandal to be convicted. Vermeulen said the
sentences were ‘fair and just’.
Full I-Net Bridge report on Mail & Guardian Online site
Mozambique: AG attacked for shoddy report
Attorney-General Joaquim Madeira has come under fire in Parliament over his
annual report which failed to mention any specific cases of crimes investigated, or
criminals prosecuted. Frelimo deputies were irritated by Madeira's veiled suggestion
that this kind of report ought to be abolished. ‘The people have the right to know
about the situation of the legal system in Mozambique’, said Acucena Duarte, who
is a former Deputy Minister of Justice, reports Agencia de Informacao de
Mocambique. Duarte attacked the slowness shown by the country's legal
institutions at every stage – in investigating cases, in bringing them to trial, and
even in delivering sentence. She also questioned what was happening with the
case of the country's most notorious assassin, Anibal dos Santos Junior, the
leader of the death squad that murdered investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso in
2000.
Full report by Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique
In a bid to justify his report, Madeira said the Constitution no longer defined his
office as ‘a central state body’ but as ‘the supreme body of the public prosecutor's
office’. As he no longer headed a ‘central state body’, Madeira said he was no
longer able to comment on what happened in the courts, or in the police, but
should deal only with the responsibilities of public prosecutors, reports Agencia de
Informacao de Mocambique.
Full report by Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique
Zimbabwe: Media takes on restrictive law
Several Zimbabwe media groups have filed an application, at the African
Commission on Human and People’s Rights, against Harare’s Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The commission will hold its 37th session
in The Gambia between April 27 and May 11, reports Zim Online. In papers filed
with the commission, the applicants argue that compulsory registration of journalists
as is required under Zimbabwe’s press law infringed on freedom of expression
upheld by the continental charter on human rights to which Harare is a signatory.
Full Zim Online report
Concerns about the judiciary’s independence are evident in a Media Institute
of Southern Africa (Misa) statement. Misa refers to a recent Supreme Court
judgment that upheld certain sections of the Act as constitutional. The challenge
was brought by Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe and judgment was
delivered a year after the case was heard. Although the Supreme Court set aside
the determination of the Media and Information Commission in which it refused ANZ
registration as a mass media service provider, the fact that the same court referred
the issue back to the MIC for consideration was cause for concern, said Misa. It
said the ruling upholding the Privacy Act undermined freedom of expression in
Zimbabwe.
Full Misa statement on Legalbrief site
Kenya: Mau Mau to remain banned
The High Court has thrown out a legal challenge by members of the Mau Mau who
were asking for sections of the Societies Act, which declared the organisation
banned, to be repealed. High Court judges Joseph Nyamu, Mohammed Ibrahim
and Milton Makhandia upheld the state's objection that the court did not have
jurisdiction to grant the plea and other demands, reports The Nation.
Full report in The Nation
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Kenya: Law Society vows to continue action against AG
The legal row between the Kenya Law Society and Attorney-General Amos Wako is
showing no signs of abating after the LSK said it would institute fresh legal
proceedings against Vice-President Moody Awori and the AG over the Anglo
Leasing finance scandal. LSK chairman Ahmednasir Abdullahi said Wako’s move to
throw out the case had not put a lid on the matter, reports the East African
Standard. He said LSK would not be cowed by the AG’s powers over matters
of public interest. ‘The move by the AG to enter the nolle prosequi has not killed
our case. Our case is still strong to withstand any test in judicial affairs,’ said
Abdullahi.
Full report in the East African Standard
The Law Society’s case questioning the powers of the AG to terminate criminal
proceedings against himself has now been referred to the Chief Justice. Justice
Mohamed Ibrahim, reports the East African Standard, certified the application
as urgent and directed that the file be placed before Justice Evan Gicheru for
further directions.
Full report in the East African Standard
Namibia: Recount of votes confirms Swapo victory
A High Court-ordered recount of votes of November's parliamentary election has
confirmed that Namibia's ruling Swapo party secured 75% of the total vote, says an
SABC News report. Officials announcing the results said there would be no
change in the allocation of parliamentary seats following the recount. Namibia's
High Court this month ordered ballots recounted following opposition allegations of
irregularities.
Full SABC News report
Sudan: African solution proposed for Darfur
N igeria, in a bid to end the impasse in the UN Security Council over a new
resolution for Sudan, has proposed that an African-run tribunal be established to
hear cases of alleged war crimes in the Darfur region. BBC News reports the US
opposes calls for war crimes suspects to be tried at the International Criminal Court
(ICC), which European countries favour. It is believed that more than 100 000 have
died and two million have fled their homes in the two-year conflict. ‘We welcome
the general principle that African solutions are required for African problems,’ said
Richard Grenell, spokesman for the US mission to the UN.
Full BBC News report
Botswana: Now professor faces defamation suit
A university professor who is facing deportation after writing a critical paper on the
government is now being sued for defamation. Professor Kenneth Good's lawyers
say, however, that the lawsuit by Botswana Democratic Party Secretary General,
Daniel 'DK' Kwelagobe, was obviously an attempt by the state to divide Good's
attention by opening many battle fronts, says The Reporter.
Full report in The Reporter
Namibia: Appeal judge to go on trial for child r ape
Supreme Court Judge of Appeal Pio Teek, who is accused of abducting and s
exually m olesting two girls aged nine and 10 in Windhoek, has appeared again in
the Windhoek Magistrates’ Court, reports The Namibian. Teek will be arraigned in
the High Court, where he must appear on April 19. The indictment lists eight
charges against the embattled Judge of Appeal. These include two counts of r ape,
two charges of abduction, two counts of committing an indecent or immoral act with
a child under the age of 16, and two counts of using ‘means to stupefy a female for
unlawful carnal in tercourse’ or supplying liquor to a person under the age of 18.
Teek has not yet been given an opportunity to plead to the charges.
Full report in The Namibian
Burundi: Electoral Code adopted
The National Assembly has voted in favour of adopting a new electoral code. The
code will now be tabled before the Senate, the other chamber of the Burundian
parliament, for adoption. It will then be sent to the head of state to be signed into
law, reports IRIN. The electoral system covered by the code will regulate ethnic
balance in the appointment of communal administrators, who govern
communes in rural areas. No ethnic group will be allowed to have more than 67 of
the 117 available communal-administrator posts.
Full IRIN report
Zambia: Charges laid against Chiluba in UK
Zambia’s Government has filed fresh charges against Frederick Chiluba – this time
in a British High Court – alleging the former president, along with a Congolese
businessman, defrauded the state of almost $35m and sent the money abroad. The
accusations, reports BBC News, refer to an arms deal which was initiated during
Chiluba's term in office five years ago. Chiluba denies the allegations, saying
they are politically motivated. Similar charges were brought against him in a court
in Zambia last year, but were later dropped after two other people involved in the
case fled the country.
Full BBC News report
Uganda: Rebel leaders urge ICC to hold their warrants
Leaders from war-torn northern Uganda went to The Hague, Netherlands, last week
to appeal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to refrain from issuing arrest
warrants against the leaders of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). ‘The
purpose of the visit is to meet the Chief Prosecutor and let him know that (the)
ICC's intervention in northern Uganda will seriously jeopardise efforts to end the
conflict through peaceful means,’ IRIN quoted a source as saying. Recently, the
ICC announced plans to issue arrest warrants for LRA commander-in-chief,
Joseph Kony, and several other high-ranking rebels. The move has met with
vehement opposition from several local leaders and human rights groups, who
argue that such a step would only serve to heighten hostilities and hinder ongoing
peace negotiations between the government and the rebels.
Full IRIN report
Malawi: Journalists out on bail after ghost story
Two Malawian journalists, arrested and charged with publishing false information for
reporting that President Bingu wa Mutharika had moved out of a palace because he
feared it was haunted, have been granted bail. A Mail & Guardian Online report
says Raphael Tenthani, who works for the BBC and Mabvuto Banda, a journalist for
The Nation newspaper and who also reports for Reuters news agency, were
arrested by armed police at their homes in Blantyre last week. A third person,
Horace Nyaka, an aide to Vice President Cassim Chilumpha, was also
arrested and charged with the same offence. He, too, was released on bail.
Full report on Mail & Guardian Online site
Legislation under Review
Uganda: Defence Bill slammed by women’s groups
The Uganda People's Defence Forces Bill is causing an uproar among women
groups in the country. At the centre of the row, reports The Monitor, is a clause
which says female recruits should be allowed to fall pregnant only four years
after being recruited into the national army. The Bill also stipulates a three-year
interval between pregnancies, failing which a female recruit can be dismissed.
Women groups have warned that they will sue the government if Parliament passes
the Bill.
Full report in The Monitor
Kenya: Numbers needed to carry no-confidence vote increased
MPs have agreed to amend the controversial Keter Bill to make it difficult to remove
a sitting Head of State. In a bid to appease opponents of the Bill that primarily gives
Parliament autonomy from the Executive, reports the East African Standard, MPs
drawn from various political parties announced they had agreed to introduce
amendments that would raise from a simple majority to two-thirds of the total
MPs required to pass a no-confidence vote against the government.
Full report in the East African Standard
N igeria: Law a turn-off for investors, says president
President Olusegun Obasanjo has rejected the amended Bill on Privatisation and
Commerc ialisation, saying the change introduced by the National Assembly would
scare away investors. On the sections which provide that an Act of the National
Assembly shall be required to amend the law establishing a privatised and
commerc ialised enterprise, the president said ‘this requirement will inevitably
discourage and scare away investors from participating in the privatisation exercise
due to the inherent risk it poses’.
Full report in Vanguard
Swaziland: Anti-Graft Bill to be tabled
The Justice Ministry is to table an Anti-Corruption Bill in the next few weeks. It has
been estimated that the government was losing more than US$6.5m a month to
corrupt practice, reports IRIN. ‘Some highly placed individuals connive with
government officials to inflate contracts, or even make government pay for services
that were never rendered. The playground for corruption is in goods and services,
as well as construction projects,’ said Finance Minister Majozi Sithole. An AntiCorruption Unit established in 1998 has not produced a single indictment
because legislation giving the unit the powers it needs to investigate and bring
cases against suspects has not been enacted.
Full report in IRIN
Uganda: U-turn on Constitutional Amendment
Following much criticism, the Cabinet has agreed to revise the controversial
omnibus Constitutional Amendment Bill. MPs and the judiciary questioned its
legality and the way it was presented, reports New Vision. They argued that the Bill
should be split. ‘ It will remain one Bill but it is going to be divided into three
parts,’ said a Cabinet source. ‘Articles that will require referendum and district
council approval will be put separately from those that are to be approved by
Parliament,’ another source said. The Bill has sparked controversy because it aims
to remove a clause limiting presidential terms.
Full report in New Vision
Judgments available Online
Abuja Supreme Court:
Savannah Bank of N igeria v Oladipo Opanubi, July 9, 2004. The Supreme Court
overturned an Appeal Court ruling in favour of the respondent, a lawyer, who
instituted a claim for quantum merit after his contract with the appellant was
cancelled.
Full judgment in THISDAY
Nairobi High Court:
Chelanga v Juma. Probate and Administration Case No. 2258 of 1996. Under
Islamic law an illegitimate child does not inherit the estate of her father but is
permitted to inherit from her mother. The Court was of the view that it was not
enough to show that the deceased supported the children during his lifetime.
Full judgment in The Nation
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