IBA condemns government attacks on Law Society of Zimbabwe

By Tererai Karimakwenda
14 March, 2008

The International Bar Association (IBA) released a statement on Friday condemning
allegations made by the Zimbabwean government, accusing the Law Society of Zimbabwe of being used by European interests to monitor the elections later this month. The state controlled Herald and Sunday Mail newspapers recently published reports that said the Law Society is being used as election observers by the European Union and United Kingdom government, both of whom were not invited to observe the elections.

IBA Executive Director Mark Ellis said the statement by the government was very unfortunate and the IBA felt so strongly about it that they had to condemn it. He described the allegations as “groundless” and “baseless”.

In one of the reports in the state media entitled ‘EU Recruits Secret Observers’, the Minister of Justice Patrick Chinamasa is quoted as saying: “It has come to my knowledge that the Law Society of Zimbabwe leadership has turned the society into a political party to the extent of soliciting from British and other foreign governments funds to engage in active politics…. I will no longer treat them as a professional society, but a political opposition party.”

Ellis said the series of attacks on the Law Society was clearly an attempt by the government at intimidation and to undermine them ahead of the elections. He said that he had no knowledge of any link between the Law Society and the EU. “And even if it were true,” said Ellis, “Law Societies throughout the world play the same role of being stewards of the rule of law.”

Ellis said the Zimbabwe government has been critical of the IBA for many years. The group published a damning report outlining the deteriorating state of the rule of rule of law in 2001. Ellis met with Robert Mugabe back then. He said; “From then on the government has seen the IBA as an enemy of the government. We are not.”

Ellis added: “We speak out for principles that support the rule of law, principles that are consistent with a country and a people that desperately want democratic reform.”

The IBA is considered the global voice of the legal profession, with a membership of more than over 30,000 individual lawyers and more than 195 bar associations and law societies.