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In Robert Gumbura’s rape cases, his alleged victims continued to live in his home, eating his food, freely travelling from and then returning to the same compound in which they now claim to have been held against their will

Our justice system is riddled with inconsistencies and some outright injustices. Something must be done. A 22-year-old man, Robert Mangau, was recently sentenced to a lengthy 10 years in prison. He had been found guilty of reconnecting his power supply after being disconnected by ZESA. The act of reconnection was a simple task, he only had to flip a primitive circuit breaker installed by ZESA and electricity began to flow again.

Contrast the first case with that of Isaac Sithole who was jailed in 2012 for breaking into a transformer and stealing transformer oil.
His actions led to the burning down of the transformer resulting in thousands of dollars worth of damage and leaving hundreds of homes without power. He was also sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The similarity of their sentences is peculiar.

If I had children to feed and had no alternative form of energy and could simply flip a switch to alleviate my suffering I am not sure I could resist the temptation to do so.

However, I am convinced that no-matter how great my desperation I would never break into a transformer. I suspect many of us share a similar disposition.

The problem with the indiscriminate sentences we are seeing in our courts is that they ignore the circumstances surrounding crimes.
The courts cannot be a substitute for a lack of robust disconnection methods.

It is way too easy to reconnect electricity or to tamper with prepaid meters and we are making criminals of otherwise decent people.
ZESA cheers on these barbaric mandatory sentences by pointing out that tampering with electricity distribution equipment could lead to power outages or fires that could result in a loss of life and property.

It’s a specious argument.
It is not reasonably foreseeable that simply reconnecting a circuit breaker could result in fires or a disruption of power supplies.

However, breaking into a transformer and draining it of oil has clear criminal contemplations and the offenders have an appreciation of the fact that their actions in some way damage critical infrastructure.

It is dishonest and cruel to put these offenders in the same category.
Consider an armed robber who walks into a butchery and demands cash from the proprietor. Terrified, the victim complies. On his way out the criminal still shoots him dead, fearing he might later identify him.

In another case an armed robber enters a bank and forces everyone to the ground promising that nobody will get hurt if they comply. On his way out an overzealous customer shoots him in the hip. He retaliates with fire and kills the customer.

Both cases result in death but we would be failing justice to argue that both these individuals deserve the same sentence.
They do not.

These sentences seem all the more absurd when you view them in context.
Consider the case of Devon Tabvamambo, a serial burglar who broke into more than five homes and stole property worth thousands of dollars.

He was a repeat offender.
The courts sentenced him to seven years in prison.

Surely this makes a mockery of our justice system when a burglar gets off with seven years for multiple offences and a first time offender is sent away for a decade for merely switching their electricity back on.

Even worse is the case of Chenjerai Utete who struck his wife multiple times on the head with a metal rod following a dispute.
The circumstances of the case are quite troubling. He had sent her away the previous day and then followed her to her village where he was welcomed under pretext of seeking reconciliation.

Whilst sitting outside he suddenly launched into the vicious attack and fled. He was sentenced to two years in prison for culpable homicide.

Do we esteem wife-killers like Chenjerai Utete above otherwise decent citizens who fall into misdemeanours such as reconnecting electricity? It’s outrageous.

What is most troubling is the silence of those who offer themselves as champions of human rights.
In 2008 the MDC took control of Parliament and in the ensuing inclusive Government Elton Mangoma had ZESA in his portfolio.
Surely these are the issues over which a useful opposition must be seized.

However, despite this simple dominance in Parliament we saw no effort on the part of the MDC to reform these laws.
This inaction suggests that the MDC is opposed to Zanu-PF rule in and of itself, not necessarily against injustice.

Injustice is not confined politics, as the NGO’s and opposition in this country would have us believe.
A few weeks ago, the erudite Joram Nyathi wrote a damning piece in response to the frenzied celebration of Gumbura’s demise in which he bemoaned our increasingly sadistic culture.

I share his concerns.
We are losing our sense of proportionality and there is evidence of our courts taking cue from aggressive but vacuous activists abetted by a sensationalist and all too eager media.

Gumbura’s case is a good case in point. While there is evidence of mental manipulation there was no allegation of violence.
Not only so, after the alleged rapes his victims continued to live in his home, eating his food, freely travelling from and then returning to the same compound in which they now claim to have been held against their will.

The case stinks.
Let us assume that Gumbura is indeed guilty of using mental manipulation to have his way with credulous women.

Surely there must be a distinction — expressed in sentencing — between this sort of rape and the aggravated variety where a violent thug waylays a woman, drags her into the darkness and puts a knife to her throat while ripping off her underwear.

Still on the matter of aggravation, Gumbura cannot be compared to a man who rapes his 10-year-old niece in the process knowingly infecting her with HIV.

Gumbura is many things foul but he certainly is not a dangerous criminal.
If the justice system is sending Gumbura to jail for 40 years for unlawfully inserting his manhood into these women under very dubious circumstances one cannot help but wonder what the sentence would be for hacking off a love rivals arm.

Ndatenda, ndini muchembere wenyu Amai Jukwa.