By Carolyn Abdenour
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe – On Sunday, June 26, 2010, the Harare High Court in Zimbabwe ordered the release of government minister Jameson Timba from prison. Timba was arrested and detained the previous Friday after South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper reported he called President Robert Mugabe a liar.
Zimbabwean security law dictates that it is a criminal offense to insult the president. Timba was jailed for his statement that he believed President Mugabe lied about the South Africa Development Community’s (“SADC”) outcome from their meeting last month. At the SADC meeting, DA Parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said the SADC addressed “Mugabe’s attempts to undermine political progress in Zimbabwe. The community extended the moratorium for the SADC tribunal to take new cases, a decision made due to Zimbabwe’s political instability. This tribunal tries cases between citizens and governments of SADC countries after citizens exhaust local legal avenues.
Timba is an aide to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and a current cabinet minister in Mugabe’s administration. Along with Tsvangirai Timba is a member of the MDC party while Mugabe is a member of the opposing ZANU-PF Party. The two parties share power in Zimbabwe under a coalition-style administration called the Government of National Unity (“GNU”).
Upon Timba’s release, Judge Joseph Musakwa stated “there was a violation of human rights…He was not informed of the charges he was facing.” The High Court went further, calling Timba’s arrest unconstitutional. Timba’s lawyers noted that while he was in prison, Timba was denied access to food and his legal team.
In response to Timba’s arrest, Trollip said “these are not the actions of a regime that is keen to embrace democratic reform, nor is it the behavior of a state that is ready to hold free and fair elections,” adding the incident “was an illustration of Mugabe’s determination to entrench ‘repressive, tyrannical rule’ in Zimbabwe”.
Besides Timba, other MDC officials face accusations. Energy Minister Elton Mangoma is being tried for abusing his position during negotiations on a fuel purchase contract, but the MDC believes that Mongoma’s charges are politically motivated. Additionally, ZANUF-PF is pressuring Finance Minister Tendai Biti to resign due to pay cuts for public workers.
On Sunday, June 26, Tsvangirai told MDC supporters that their party would not leave the campaign despite political harassment from the ZANU-PF. News Day reports Tsvangiari said to a group of thousands of supporters “he would rather rot in jail than pull his party out of the inclusive government and play into the hands of ZANU-PF.”
For more information, please see;
IOL News – DA calls for tougher stance in Zim – 27 June 2011
News Day – Let me rot in jail – Tsvangirai – 27 June 2011
VOA News – Zimbabwe PM Tsvangirai Vows to Remain in Unity Gov’t Despite ‘Provisions’ – 27 June 2011
BBC – Jameson Timba, Zimbabwe minister, ordered free by court – 26 June 2011
