ON Thursday, we read that President Emmerson Mnangagwa had appointed former High Court judge Justice Webster Chinamora as the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Independent Complaints Commission (ZICC).
Other members of the commission are Elizabeth Rutsate, Andrew Mataruse and Oliver Mandipaka.
Rutsate is a senior human rights, gender and environmental law lecturer and researcher interested in teaching and conducting socio-legal research and Mandipaka is a former assistant commissioner in the police force.
He is also a former MP for Buhera West representing the ruling Zanu PF, a party known for perpetrating serious human rights violations.
Now he and Chinamora have been appointed to a very sensitive commission, which should call out any security establishment that violates human rights.
Last November, Chinamora left the bench in a huff a day after President Emmerson Mnangagwa had set up a tribunal, led by retired judge Justice Moses Chinhengo, to investigate his suitability to hold office.
The former judge was facing a litany of accusations, from passing judgments to a case he had not presided over and had not been argued, to failure to revealing a conflict of interest.
The big question now is: How does he maintain independence when dealing with upcoming cases?
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The Zimbabwe Independent Complaints Commission Act says the commission was established to investigate complaints by members of the public against misconduct by members of the security services.
The Act also spells out further functions and obligations of the commission.
It also seeks to regulate its operations; and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing.
“Whereas section 207 of the Constitution provides the following —The security services of Zimbabwe consist of — (a) the Defence Forces; (b) the Police Service; (c) the intelligence services; (d) the Prisons and Correctional Service; and (e) any other security service established by Act of Parliament,” reads the Act.
Time and again, members of the security forces have been accused of assaulting, setting dogs on, torturing suspects in custody and even shooting dead fleeing protesters.
Complaints have been raised and the ZICC is expected to remove the political jacket when dealing with such cases.
Will Chinamora and Mandipaka be able to deal with such cases and pass fair judgment despite the possibility of political pressure from Zanu PF?
We urge you, Mr President, to reverse the appointment, particularly that of Chinamora, as he is a tainted man.
We all believe that everyone deserves a second chance, but we cannot stand by and watch as potential hearings of all future human rights infractions by State security personnel face uncertainty, particularly appearing before a man who stood accused of passing a judgment in a matter he had not presided over and which was yet to be argued.
