Zimbabwe
Opposition condemns Mugabe's amnesty

afrol.com, 13 October - President Mugabe's action in declaring his so called "clemency order" on the 6th October 2000 is condemned by the oppositional MDC. The President has purported to act in terms of his "prerogative of mercy" powers enshrined in section 31I of the Constitution to forestall the criminal prosecution or remit the sentences of those already convicted of "politically motivated crimes, David Coltar, the MDC Secretary for Legal Affairs, stated today. Amnesty International also has condemned the act.

- Indeed in describing the Order as one of "clemency" he seeks to convey that this is a benevolent and merciful act, Coltar states. "In fact it is just the opposite and accordingly is a serious abuse of his prerogative of mercy. It has been well chronicled this year that the overwhelming majority of the some 35.000 politically motivated criminal acts committed in Zimbabwe this year were committed by ZANU-PF members. Amani Trust, an independent NGO, has documented these acts since the announcement of the Referendum result in mid February and has found that over 90% of the crimes were committed by ZANU-PF supporters. It has been equally well documented that, contrary to the assertions made by the Minister of Justice that the MDC "started the violence", the violence was initiated and orchestrated by President Mugabe and the ZANU-PF hierarchy." 

- It was President Mugabe who warned in February at the opening of the Pungwe Water Project that his opponents would die, and die they did in the ensuing weeks and months. It was President Mugabe who refused to comply with two High Court Orders for the eviction of criminals who were in unlawful occupation of farms and who were responsible for the vast majority of the politically motivated crimes committed both in the run up to, and after, the general election. It is now the same President Mugabe who is exercising his prerogative of mercy to ensure that those who committed crimes in furtherance of his political objectives do not have to spend any time in jail.

- It must be made absolutely clear that the MDC has not made any request that President Mugabe exercise his prerogative of mercy. No "representations" were made by the MDC or reasonably minded citizens as claimed by the state controlled media. The MDC is dedicated to the rule of law and if any of its members are guilty of politically motivated crimes it believes those people should face due process of law. Clearly then this "act of clemency" is nothing of the sort: it is simply a cynical and brazen abuse of the Constitution by President Mugabe in furtherance of a bloody and violent political agenda. A prerogative of mercy is only meant to be exercised when an injustice would occur if the prerogative were not exercised. It was never intended to be exercised in such a way as to create a gross travesty of justice. This order shows no mercy to the victims of the thousands of crimes. It only shows mercy to the hundreds of ZANU-PF thugs who committed premeditated and well planned crimes in order to ensure that President Mugabe's party won the election.

- ZANU-PF claims that because certain crimes are excluded from the Order it will not enable all who have committed politically motivated crimes to evade prosecution. The crimes excluded are murder, rape, indecent assault, statutory rape, theft, possession of arms and any offence involving fraud or dishonesty. Leaving aside for a moment the difficulty in imagining a "politically motivated" statutory rape or fraud, it is necessary to debunk the notion that Zimbabweans can expect justice to be done in so far as "serious crime" is concerned. Despite the fact that the murders of people such as Tichaona Chiminya, David Stevens and Martin Olds were committed in the presence of witnesses (including members of the police) and in broad daylight none of the murderers have been brought to justice and it is unlikely that they will be. In other words it was not necessary for President Mugabe to extend the application of the Order to murder etc as his supporters have by and large not been prosecuted for these crimes, and even if they are no doubt President Mugabe will exercise less public individual pardons as he has done frequently in the past.

- What necessitated the Order was the fact that hundreds of President Mugabe's supporters were facing charges of arson, assault, assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm, malicious injury to property, public violence, extortion, intimidation, culpable homicide, stocktheft, poaching, abduction and kidnapping (all of which crimes are covered by the Order). These charges were being brought by professional policemen who were simply doing their lawful duty. However the exercise of that lawful duty posed a serious problem for President Mugabe and ZANU-PF in the run up to the Presidential election: the people facing these charges are the very people President Mugabe and ZANU-PF will rely upon to conduct the ZANU-PF Presidential election campaign. Furthermore having incited their supporters to engage in criminal acts President Mugabe and ZANU-PF could hardly afford to lose this constituency by abandoning them to their fate in the run up to the Presidential election.

- The effect of the Order on poor innocent victims will be devastating. Whilst rich farmers will still be able to sue ZANU-PF and the War Veterans Association for damages in the civil courts those poor people who cannot afford lawyers who have been beaten up or had their homes burnt down by ZANU-PF thugs will now have no further legal recourse to justice. ZANU-PF's statement in the state media that the Order "will promote reconciliation" will do no such thing, is particularly insensitive to the plight of the poor and will only serve to exacerbate the anger felt by an overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans against the Mugabe regime.

- What however is most disturbing about the Order is the signal it sends to all Zimbabweans in the run up to the Presidential election. Not only does the Order condone the wanton acts of politically motivated crimes of this year but more seriously it will encourage those guilty of those crimes that they can commit even further crimes on behalf of President Mugabe in the weeks and months that lie ahead with absolute impunity. The MDC condemns the culture of impunity which has been fostered by President Mugabe over the last 20 years and reminds President Mugabe and ZANU-PF that impunity does not extend beyond Zimbabwe's borders and that this Order will not be recognised by the MDC Government when it comes to power. In the interim the MDC calls upon the international community to condemn this latest cynical act of President Mugabe to undermine the rule of law in Zimbabwe.

Amnesty International condemns
Amnesty International has described the clemency order issued by the President on 6 October as unjust and unacceptable, the organisation states in a press release. The order grants total amnesty to every person liable to criminal prosecution, whose guilt or innocence has not been determined by a court, for any politically motivated crime committed during the period 1 January 2000 to 31 July 2000.

"There must be a prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigation of all the serious human rights abuses which occurred in the period before the elections in Zimbabwe in June this year and those responsible must be brought to justice," Amnesty International added.

Amnesty International opposes the granting of pardons, amnesties and similar measures of impunity for crimes under international law, which prevent the emergence of the truth, the determination of guilt or innocence by a court and reparations for victims.

Source: Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 

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