3-mob.com 
The recent judgement by South Africa’s Constitutional Court ordering the police force of that country to investigate allegations of torture against Zimbabwean officials is an an unfortunate development.
While the two applicants the Southern Africa Litigation Centre and the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum will be doing cartwheels after that decision, the reality is that it will cause an unnecessary strain on relations between the two countries.
Just to be clear, the court claimed that the allegations of torture of MDC-T officials including former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in 2007. The case was brought before SA courts in 2007 and the director of prosecutions as well the police have opposed it.
What this judgement does is that it treats Zimbabwe like a province of South Africa, subject to the constitution of that country when we have our own supreme law and statutes. That such a case can even be entertained is arrogant to say the least. How much would they like it if we sent our boys from the Zimbabwe Republic Police to go about poking their noses in matters of this country.
In as far as passing this judgement, what jurisdiction will a member of of the South Africa Police Service have ? How will he come into Zimbabwe and legally start poking about? How can a judgement say the internal police of another country can go and tell another country what to do? Geneva Convention easily comes to mind and is of course ignored in all this.
What is more, Zimbabwe does not fall under the jurisdiction of the International Community Court so how does this even work? Assuming of course that is the end game…
Quoted by Business Day Live, Zimbabwe’s prosecutor-general, Johannes Tomana said:
The assumption is that rulings given in South Africa are applicable in Zimbabwe. The reality is that they are not. We are not bound by any judgments made in South Africa and in any part of the world. We have our own courts, our own constitution and that is what we will use to guide us.
It’s just weird.
Someone should listen to former SA president Thabo Mbeki. He said, ‘Justice should not trump peace’.
Comments
Loading…