Zimpapers Logo

Court Reporter

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has chided MDC-Alliance for making unproven claims that the country’s judiciary system was captured.

The minister extolled the Judiciary for demonstrating its independence in dealing with cases coming to the superior courts.

Minister Ziyambi made the remarks at the ceremony last week to mark the separation of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court.

“To seek to cast aspersions on the Judiciary and accuse the courts of lacking independence on the basis of a few cases where the courts have ruled in favour of Government is in Government’s view, preposterous,” he said.

“To suggest that Government must lose every case in which it is a party in order to show that the Judiciary is independent is equally outrageous.

“To further accuse the courts of being captured because you have lost a case, but keep quiet when you have won is simply being disingenuous.”

The minister said the warped understanding of judicial independence should never be allowed because if it were, there would be no need for the courts to adjudicate in disputes involving Government.

“The existence of these cases is living testimony that both the rule of law and judicial independence are alive in Zimbabwe,” said Minister Ziyambi.