By Staff Reporter- Florence Ganye (47) is a bitter woman.
She frowns while narrating how her case was handled at Chitungwiza magistrates court, some 27 kilometres away from Harare’s main capital.
“I am serving community service for an offence that I never committed. My only crime was to reprimand the policewoman not to shout vulgar words at the borehole in front of minors while insulting everyone else who was in the queue for water,” she said.
Her sentiments were echoed by two others who were also convicted to more than 70 hours of community service at Seke 8 primary, a local government school in the same neighbourhood.
Added her colleague:
“It’s a travesty of justice. Our systems are captured.”
Abuse of office
Detailing the events leading to their arrest and conviction, the three women shared their story.
Ganye said trouble started when a policewoman (name supplied) came to the borehole in plain clothes and started challenging everyone including the elderly waiting in the queue for water.
The policewoman reportedly told everyone that she was jumping the queue simply because she was a police officer.
“Imagine being in the queue for water for over 5 hours only for someone to just come and jump the queue while shouting vulgar words insulting the elderly men and women in the presence of minors.”
The development irked community members who started reprimanding her but the boastful police officer who is in her early thirties told everyone that she was using her uniform to show the community that she had the powers to do as she pleased at the free for all borehole.
The community members reportedly refused her to jump the queue and she then went to report an assault that never happened at Chitungwiza Town Centre.
Bribe
Out of the many community members, she chose three women, Ganye included who were hauled to court and convicted.
Ganye and her colleagues alleged that the police woman sought for a US$50 bribe to have the case withdrawn but the trio refused.
“I was innocent and I assumed that the courts would be fair but I was warned that without any money, we would be found guilty. True, we were found guilty even when we never assaulted her.”
Ganye is like many others who feel that the country’s justice system is captured.
Scarred
Another Epworth woman, whose 11 year old daughter was raped by a fellow tenant also had no kind words for Zimbabwe’s courts.
Narrating her experiences, she accused the court officials of receiving bribes to discharge the guilty while convicting those who are innocent but fail to pay bribes.
“My daughter is a slow learner but she quickly disclosed what had happened to her and we sought medical help which confirmed that she had been raped.
The medical affidavit was there to prove that she had been violated but the perpetrator is walking scot free. His relatives came out in full force and they were moving from one office to the next during trial. I am sure they paid the court officials. I am not happy with the conviction.
It was as if my daughter is mad and could not identify who raped her because the case was just thrown out.”
She said the courts destroyed her hopes that justice would be delivered.
“My daughter is scarred for life because everyone in the community is just pointing at her and identifying her as that mentally challenged girl who was raped.
Even some mothers do not want their daughters associating with her because they label her and say she is now an adult because she had sex. It is as if she chose to be raped.
What pains me the most is that the man who did this to her is out there and was freed by the courts.”
The Constitution of Zimbabwe in section 69(3) guarantees to every person the right of access to the courts, or to some other independent and impartial tribunal or forum established by law for the resolution of disputes.
The Constitutional principles set out in section 165 of the Constitution dictates the mandate of the judiciary, stating that in exercising its authority, the Judiciary must remain cognisant of the need to do justice to all, irrespective of status; dispensing justice efficiently and with reasonable promptness.
Confidence In The Judiciary?
Presenting his speech on the official opening of the 2018 Legal year on January 15 2018, Justice Luke Malaba, the Chief Justice of Zimbabwe said:
“The Judiciary must always be conscious of the fact that its role is paramount in the safeguarding of human rights and freedoms and the rule of law. Access to justice is the hallmark of any civilised and democratic society.”
He added that these can only be achieved if all the arms of Government diligently play their respective roles in a transparent, just, accountable and responsive manner.
“The role of the Judiciary in the administration of justice becomes key. It is a critical role because of the constitutional duty thrust on the Bench to exercise judicial power impartially, promptly and in a manner that safeguards public confidence in the judicial system.”
Cartel Captured
Prosecutor General Kumbirai Hodzi, in an interview with a local publication alleged that a cartel made up of police officers, lawyers, prosecutors, the media and judges working with powerful politicians has corrupted the justice delivery system in Zimbabwe.
He alleged that the cartel, had even attempted to kill him to get its way.
Patrick Zhuwao, a former cabinet minister who is now in self imposed exile, in his article titled the Zhuwao Brief concurred with another former cabinet minister Professor Jonathan Moyo that the systemic capture of Zimbabwe’s judiciary started manifesting itself in 2016 and came to the fore on 21st August 2019 when Justice Chitapi quashed charges against Honourable Saviour Kasukuwere.
Said Zhuwao:
“In a rare judgment, Justice Chitapi described how the magistrate in the Kasukuwere case, as a judicial officer, “openly confessed that he was conducting proceedings under pressure from certain persons. He was therefore not independent and impartial as his duties required him to be.”
Unite And Fight
The opposition MDC led by Nelson Chamisa is also on record saying that the country’s justice delivery system is captured.
Said Chamisa:
“It is a call to action when the country’s Prosecutor General confirms that cartels have captured state institutions. This reflects a captured and compromised state and that the regime is not fit for purpose. Politics aside, we must now unite in this BIG fight against corruption.
“The PG confirms the serious and systemic nature of rot permeating the State. As ever, the fish rots from the head. If the top prosecutor is moved to make such public complaints then he is not getting support from the political leadership to perform his constitutional role.”
However, addressing legislators in the 9th parliament recently, Vice President Kembo Mohadi trashed the allegations by the prosecutor general and said his remarks were personal.
Said Mohadi:
“What he (PG) said is his own opinion…..But for what we are doing as government over the claims is that we will investigate as to whether what he said was true or not. He needs to explain to us what he meant by ‘State capture’ and what is actually taking place. Until he comes to us and explain the issue, investigations are yet to take place.”
Corrupt
Zimbabwe is viewed as one of the world’s 20 most corrupt countries, according to the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), a report compiled by graft watchdog, Transparency International.
According to the report which ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, Zimbabwe is number 160 on the index, which uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
The southern African country scored a paltry 22, which is below the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 32.
However, the position is an improvement when the country was at its worst in 2008, where it was number 166. This was attributed to the country’s economic crisis, when the country’s inflation rose to an estimated 89.7 sextillion percent year-on-year in mid-November 2008.
But there is general consensus among citizens, that the justice delivery system in the country is “captured”.
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