CHIEF Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku yesterday called for violence-free elections as ill-preparedness raised fears of a repeat of previous bloody polls when the country votes in an election slated for later this year. Report by Charles Laiton
Chidyausiku also said a violence-free and fair atmosphere would reduce litigations in courts.
The election is expected to take place later this year to replace the wobbly inclusive government led by Zanu PF’s President Robert Mugabe and his political foe MDC-T leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
The last harmonised elections in 2008 left at least 200 people dead, mostly MDC-T supporters, and hundreds of thousands of others sought refuge in neighbouring South Africa and overseas.
Opening the 2013 legal year, Chief Justice Chidyausiku said as Zimbabwe geared up for the forthcoming elections, the judiciary intended to add its voices to those who were calling for the holding of free and fair elections.
After harmonised elections in 2002 and 2008, the courts were inundated with election-related litigations that were followed by widespread political violence.
“We, in the judiciary, also note that the nation may go to the polls this year. As the nation gears itself up for the elections, we add our voice to those who are calling for free and fair elections that are held in a violence-free atmosphere,” Chief Justice Chidyausiku said.
“Whilst the courts stand ready to hear cases relating to the forthcoming elections, it is my fervent hope that litigation, if any, relating to running of and theresults emerging from the polls will be very little.”
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The Chief Justice also lamented the effectiveness of capital punishment which he said had not brought the desired results of deterring would be murderers.
He called upon community leaders to devise ways of minimising the incidences of unnecessary deaths as a result of disputes triggered by trivial issues that could have been resolved amicably.
“The existence of the death penalty in our system on its own appears not to be bringing in the desired results, that of deterring would-be murderers,” he said.
“In my view, the incidence of violence, domestic or otherwise, in our community is high. There must be a way of making our people respect the sanctity of human life that lies outside the court system. I, therefore, call upon all leaders in the community to look into the issue and devise ways of minimising the incidence of unnecessary deaths in their respective communities.”
He noted that the reasons for resorting to violence in most of the cases were trivial and society must be trained on other methods of resolving disputes that involved domestic, drunken and any other issues.
The Chief Justice also commended Chief Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe and his team for a job well done for drastically reducing the backlog at the magistrates court from 45 000 cases to 10 000 last year.
He urged the Law Society of Zimbabwe, police, prisons and the Attorney-General’s Office to work together in combating corruption.
“Members of the Law Society should not point fingers at us, laugh or shake their heads at the judiciary on account of corrupt officials. Neither should the police or prisons service. In turn, it does not assist anyone if we in the judiciary were to compare the levels of corruption within the judiciary against those in the police, prison or Attorney-General’s Office and boast that ours is better,” Chief Justice Chidyausiku said.
Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have urged a peaceful vote. No date has been fixed yet, but the Constitution requires that elections be held not later than four months after the end of a presidential term.
Mugabe’s mandate expires on June 29 and in theory, it means the latest date polling can take place is October 29.
The proceedings, led by recently appointed Acting Chief Registrar of the Superior Courts in Zimbabwe Walter Chikwanha, were attended by senior government officials, advocates, magistrates, lawyers and court officials.
