For the first time since independence courts failed to function normally on Wednesday due to a boycott by lawyers. Members of the Law Society of Zimbabwe decided to take this drastic measure to boycott court proceeding and hold countrywide demonstrations, to highlight the violation of their rights by the state.

In Harare more than 100 lawyers also marched to the High Court and managed to leave a petition protesting the ill treatment of lawyers in Zimbabwe at the Justice Minister’s office. Lawyer Jesse Majome said the demonstration was a victory against the dictatorship because the last attempt to present a petition to the Minister of Justice was brutally thwarted by the police.

There has been a systematic campaign to harass and beat members of the legal fraternity, especially those working on human rights issues. At least 19 lawyers were arrested during the month of May alone.
On May 4th human rights lawyers Alec Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni were arrested on allegations of obstructing the course of justice, arising from a bail application filed by them in the High Court. The two are representing the political detainees accused of what are believed to be trumped up terrorism charges.

The day after Muchadehama and Makoni were arrested the Legal Resources Foundation reported that a representative of the Attorney General, state prosecutor Richard Chikosha, was beaten and detained overnight for consenting to a court order relating to the political detainees.
A few days later on the 8th several lawyers were beaten, while five were briefly detained and thoroughly assaulted, when police violently broke up a solidarity protest march by the legal fraternity in Harare. The lawyers, including Beatrice Mtetwa (the president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe), were briefly detained and taken to an area near the suburb of Eastlea where they were made to lie on the ground and beaten before being released.

Those that were beaten during that march, were assaulted because police said they were ‘walking too slowly,” resulting in another prominent lawyer Mordecai Mahlangu sustaining serious injuries.
On May 15th, ten lawyers were briefly detained in Mutare for demonstrating against the continued harassment and arrest of their colleagues. A day earlier prominent lawyer Jonathan Samkange was arrested for allegedly misrepresenting facts in a case involving his client, the alleged British mercenary Simon Mann.

Jesse Majome said Wednesday’s industrial action was to communicate the message that it is not business as usual in the Zimbabwe legal system. “There is great danger of annihilation not only of the practice of the law but even just the dispensation of justice if lawyers and court officials continue to pretend that everything is alright,” she said.