"Attorney-General Tomana Above The Law" - Says Government

Johannes Tomana (above), the Zimbabwe Attorney-General, has now been declared to be above the law by the government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe. Since Tsvangirai has publicly stated that "there is nothing Mugabe does without my approval", we can a\only assume that he is fully in agreement with this latest travesty of justice



Harare, Zimbabwe, 24 August 2009

The government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe have now publicly stated that Attorney General Johannes Tomana is above the law. The announcement was made by Patrick Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice in this moribund Inclusive Government.

Here's the background:

Last month, parliament (where MDC still hold a sliver-thin majority) agreed to motion by MDC-T parliamentarian Tongai Matutu to "condemn the unwarranted convictions (of MDC supporters and activists) and selective applications of the law" by the Attorney General.

The motion also called for the "immediate withdrawal, reversal and quashing of all convictions and stoppage of all pending prosecutions". That was not all, and here is the meat of it:

Parliament also agreed to a motion calling for the "appointment of an Independent Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the conduct of the Attorney-General in all politically motivated prosecutions"

Chinamasa, however, told reporters yesterday:

"The Constitution clearly provides that that the Attorney General is independent of any authority outside himself in the discharge of his functions as the prosecuting authority in Zimbabwe".


Chinamasa also added: "No other organ of the State can interfere with his discharge of functions." And just in case there was any doubt, he went on:

"That means the Executive, the Judiciary and parliament have no authority to interfere. So the motion that parliament passed is unconstitutional, invalid and therefore a nullity."
You get that? No authority outside himself? Which means he is basically above the law.

State media reports that the Clerk of Parliament, Austin Zvoma ( a highly efficient administrator, I may add, having observed him at work) has since written to Lovemore Moyo, the Speaker of Parliament, advising him that the parliamentary motion is "against the Constitution".

This is why Tsvangirai apologists need to understand the dangers of the Kariba Draft, which the Prime Minister is almost certain now to give in to. He has taken the route of not aggravating Mugabe, a quiet diplomacy that leads him to capitulate on almsot every point when Mugabe really puts his foot down.

ZANU PF will always use unjust laws, unjust constitutions etc to rape and plunder the freedoms of the people and to frustrate the democracy project in Zimbabwe.

Kariba Draft, being no different from the current constitution, contains a host of unjust and dictatorial provisions which no self-respecting democrat will ever countenance.

You can expect more of this, especially now that Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe are agreed that there will be no general elections (only by-elections) for the four years or so.

It is in both their interests to drag their feet on coming up with a new constitution.

At least, it is now out in the open, the Attorney General is above the law and can only judge himself.

Of course we know that he is appointed by the President, Tsvangirai's "Solution", Robert Mugabe. So at least he will take orders from that quarter. The "independent AG" smokescreen is only designed to ensure that the MDCs in government do not get too wise.

But, since Tsvangirai has told his supporters publicly (at a rally, no less), that "there is nothing Mugabe does without my approval", we can assume that he also fully approves this latest ploy by Mugabe and his men.

We are in for a long, sweltering summer, my friends.

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