(News of the South) HARARE – Hundreds of lawyers dressed in their black gowns marched in Harare’s city centre to the Constitutional Court on this afternoon to call for the immediate restoration of the rule of law and order in Zimbabwe. The march was organised by the Law Society of Zimbabwe, the largest body of legal practitioners across the country.
The march comes after the group said it had noted a worrying trend across the sections of the judiciary, where their clients were being denied bail and there was a surge in the fast-tracking of trials.
It said fast-tracking, routine denial of bail, routine dismissal of applications, and blatant disregard of the constitutional provisions relating to the right to fair trial were “causing alarm in the profession”.
Riot police were stationed outside the Constitutional Court building, in a face-off against the placard-carrying lawyers. This was the first time that there has been any mass gathering since protests a fortnight ago.
Some of the placards read “respect the constitution”, “no to judicial capture”, “no to command justice” and “asifuni bumbulu” (loosely translated to “we don’t want any nonsense”).
As the lawyers marched to the top court, they stopped briefly outside the Munhumutapa offices, the seat of power of Zimbabwe’s government under President Emmerson Mnangagwa, which is across the road from the courthouse.
On Tuesday, police said 1,000 people across Harare, Bulawayo and the Midlands province had so far been arrested related to the stay away.
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