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ZLHR dismayed at the gross disregard of court orders by the State and the City of Harare: Tsiga grounds and Ground No. 5, Mbare
Zimbabwe Lawyers For Human Rights (ZLHR)
November 26, 2005

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) is increasingly disturbed by the failure by the City of Harare and the state to comply with orders emanating from Zimbabwe's courts of law. On Monday the 10th of October, ZLHR obtained a provisional order before Justice Omerjee of the High Court of Zimbabwe at Harare which order precluded the City of Harare and the Zimbabwe Republic Police from evicting or threatening to evict the occupants of Tsiga grounds and Ground No. 5 in Mbare, Harare. In an act exhibiting brutal inhumanity timed to have effects as cruel as possible, municipal police assisted by National Youth militia pounced upon our clients at midnight of 13-14 November and spent the 1st 6 hours of the 14th day of November 2005 violently carting away our clients to Hopley Farm, a farm just outside Harare, in blatant contravention of the court order. Showing the municipal police the court order only served to earn one individual the threat of a beating.

To show contempt for the judiciary in the manner that the local authority and the state did is an act which goes to the very root of any democratic system structured to protect even the barest of human rights. The principle of separation of powers is a basic element in any justice system that takes concepts of justice and democracy beyond the barren realm of lip service. However, when local government personnel and state-sanctioned actors like the National Youth service militia choose to ignore the judgement of a court of law, they negate this principle and take on the role of the judge and enforcer of their own matters. It is therefore sad that local and national leaders who should all lead by example find it apt to exhibit utter disregard for court orders and that these erstwhile leaders should choose to take the law into their own hands. This is a precedent which, if followed by society at large, no doubt only serves to precipitate social disintegration. The right to the protection of the law enshrined in our constitution is rendered impotent when the state sanctions or condones such disregard of its court decisions. Thus the rule of law ceases to exist; even the court action brought by ZLHR has been derailed as having been overtaken by (unlawful) events. This only serves to destroy the faith of the citizenry in the justice system, thus hastening national descent into lawlessness.

It is with heightened dismay that Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights further notes the violence and the timing of this hideous act undermining the dignity and integrity of the victims. These factors clearly render this act cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in contravention of section 15 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, customary international law and as oft repeated and emphasized in various other international agreements including the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. These are people who have already been rendered homeless and already have had problems earning a livelihood and accessing basic health and other infrastructure as a result of Operation Murambatsvina. Such actions only serve to worsen their plight. The forced evictions themselves amount to psychological torture; it should be noted that there were numerous children unlawfully relocated in this manner.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights deplores the use of militias of the National Youth service programme in this exercise of anarchist behaviour. It is sad when militarised forces of no legal legitimacy such as these are used to undermine the decisions of the judiciary and the rights of poor vulnerable people as happened in this instance.

That the forced relocation of people constitutes a contravention of international law admits of no doubt, never mind how done. It therefore becomes all the more disheartening that it was done in such a cruel manner and in direct contravention of a court order. Forced relocation of people into a particular area as is the case at Hopley farm brings to mind most unfortunate images of colonial Zimbabwe which images are inconsistent with the human rights based democratic dispensation in which Zimbabwe ought to have found itself by now. Indeed, forced relocation of people into these obscure places hinders their access to justice as even contact between such victims and their legal practitioners as well as other legal facilities is compromised. Thus a social mode of discrimination in terms of access to justice and other amenities is fashioned by the state's forced relocation of vulnerable persons in society.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights therefore expresses its consternation and calls upon the state (Zimbabwe) and the City of Harare to respect court orders and allow the law to take its course. Further, we call upon these actors to respect the dignity and integrity of the human person and forthwith cease the crude use of force upon the defenceless and disadvantaged populace of Zimbabwe. The state is also called upon to desist from dumping people in peripheral areas where they suffer devastating hunger and illness and it is well nigh impossible to make a livelihood for whatever reason.

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