It’s now official. The rule of law no longer applies in Zimbabwe. The Police were given until October 6, 2006, to arrest Joseph Mwale, a Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative in Manicaland, for the murder of opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s assistants – Talent Mabika and Tichaona Chiminya – in the run-up to the 2000 general elections.

The two were petrol bombed in their car and burnt to death. During the inquest into their deaths, the judge ordered the arrest of Joseph Mwale, who was well known in Manicaland and committed the crime in front of many witnesses, including police officers. Nothing was done. The judge was ignored.

Since then several courts, including the High Court, have instructed the police to arrest him. Their excuse has consistently been that they can’t find him – despite the fact that he continues to operate from the CIO headquarters in Manicaland (near the police station in Mutare), he continues to draw a state salary and lives in a government house.

The inertia on the part of the police has been increasingly evident since 2000, when the MDC emerged as a viable opposition in Zimbabwean politics and for the first time threatened the hitherto de facto one party state enjoyed by Zanu (PF) since Independence in 1980.

It has become routine for the police to do nothing in cases affecting opposition members. Court judgements are simply ignored.

But this is the first time the Attorney General’s office, which is empowered by the constitution to prosecute criminals, has got involved. A formal letter was sent to the police in Manicaland giving them a firm deadline – October 6 – to arrest Mwale.

“The accused is facing a charge of murder which was committed in the year 2000. The docket was referred to your office with instructions that you arrest Joseph Mwale and bring him for initial remand. To date we have not received any information pertaining to the progress made by your office,” says the letter.

The deadline has come and gone. Nothing has happened.

Observers say no policeman in Zimbabwe has the courage to arrest a CIO officer for anything involving an opposition supporter. That would be more than their life is worth.

In glaring contrast to this is the enthusiastic zeal with which the police ‘dealt with’ the opposition and trade union leaders who dared take to the streets recently to protest against the ruling party. What a travesty of justice.





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Wilf Mbanga, one of the founders of the independent Zimbabwean daily newspaper "The Daily News", is currently living in the UK. He writes about the current situation in Zimbabwe.