The case of senior government officials, including a minister and his deputy, being arrested, questioned and, in the case of the latter, being detained in police cells overnight, hogged the limelight last week.
THE STANDARD COMMENT
The officials are accused of criminal abuse of office, fraud, money-laundering, defeating or obstructing the course of justice, among other crimes involving corruption.
What sticks out like a sore thumb in this case is the fact that the law in this country is not applied equally between the rich and the poor — between the powerful politician and the ordinary person.
The ordinary person is arrested and locked away on mere suspicion of crime committed, often without any investigation having been carried out. Investigations usually begin after one is already arrested, which is when we hear that a suspect has been arrested and is helping the police with investigations.
In most cases, “helping the police with investigations” means the suspect is being beaten and subjected to torture. Many have later told the courts that they were made to admit to crimes and sign statements of guilt under duress.
When it comes to powerful politicians and the well-connected of society, it is a totally different story. Thorough investigations are done and results of these investigations – including even arrogant admissions by the suspects — give the police every reason to take action, but nothing happens. Suspects who would have committed open crimes continue to walk free and even bad mouth authorities while challenging, not the accusations against them, but the powers of certain institutions to arrest them.
In the meantime, the suspects, in counter action, expose more crimes allegedly committed by their political adversaries. Still, because they are powerful, well-connected individuals, nothing happens to them either. The alleged crimes are being divulged by well-placed senior officials who claim to have solid evidence on which police could base their investigations, but nothing happens.
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It is scenarios such as these that erode public confidence and trust in the government, the politicians and the police. The government of this country appears to have a policy where it is only the ordinary person or those targeted by powerful politicians who can be arrested on suspicion of committing crimes.
It explains why no senior government official has ever been arrested, tried and jailed even though President Robert Mugabe has openly declared that many in his government, including ministers, are thieves and fraudsters.
A large percentage of ministers in Mugabe’s government have been fingered in all sorts of crimes involving millions of dollars in cases to do with minerals, land, fuel, tenders etcetera, but none of them has been arraigned before the courts, even in cases where the evidence is open and abundant.
When ordinary citizens become aware of such unfair application of the law, they lose all trust in the people that govern them. They become disgruntled, unhappy and even agitated. When they find that the arresting arms of government are sent to descend with brute force on them for questioning such arrogance and impunity, they begin to ask themselves a lot of questions.
When the citizens stand up to ask why ministers steal land, diamonds, students’ funds and literally dislocate the whole economy, they are brutalised, tortured, arrested and locked up by the same police that stand aside and do nothing while holding evidence of national plunder.
Whether or not minister Jonathan Moyo and his co-accused are guilty of the crimes alleged against them is a case to be decided by the courts — but what people want is for justice to be seen to be done. It is wrong to allow cases to be swept under the carpet because of some legal or political technicality. What the people expect to see is the many allegations made against these government officials dealt with and pursued to their logical conclusion — whatever the outcome.
In the same vein, the allegations made by these accused persons against their adversaries should not be ignored. The people making these allegations are not ordinary simple people. They are well-informed senior officials of government who most likely are in possession of solid evidence to support their claims. The people will also expect to see those allegations investigated and the truth brought to the fore and the law allowed to take its course.
It is important for the government to have the people’s trust and confidence restored. Our politicians should not forever be known to be like a bunch of bananas — stuck together, yellow to the core, slippery when stepped on, with not one of them straight!
