Harare - Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday made a landmark ruling when it annulled a law highly regarded as “abused”, “notorious”, and “repugnant”.
The ConCourt declared as unconstitutional Section 121 (3) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (Chapter 9:07) which prosecutors have used and abused with regard to bail orders granted by the court.
Under the section, the State could detain a suspect granted bail for a further seven days while the prosecution would be considering appealing the court’s decision.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku together with eight other ConCourt judges declared the controversial law unconstitutional in that it was ultra vires Section 13 (1) and Section 18 (1) of the former Constitution of Zimbabwe.
The ruling came after Fanuel Kamurendo (44) petitioned the ConCourt seeking an order striking down the section.
Kamurendo, represented by human rights lawyers Kudzai Kadzere and Marufu Mandevere, argued that the provision was repugnant, undemocratic, and open to plain abused by prosecutors.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) spokesperson Kumbirai Mafunda said the ruling came as a relief and they were “elated”.
“As ZLHR, we have been vindicated in that Section 121 (3) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, which has been the bane of many a human rights defender’s existence, has been struck down by the full bench of the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe,” Mafunda said.
“We are elated that consistency has paid off in that our legal campaign and advocacy efforts, carried out for several years, have finally borne fruit and we thank our members, Marufu Mandevere and Kudzayi Kadzere, and the ZLHR family and human rights defenders for persevering with their legitimate work all these years under the yoke of such a repugnant and undemocratic provision which was so open to plain abuse by prosecutors.”
Kamurendo petitioned the Constitutional Court in 2014 after prosecutors invoked Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act to deny him bail when he appeared in court after being arrested and charged with contravening Section 140 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) for allegedly causing malicious damage to property.
Prosecutors alleged that he damaged some ZANU-PF political campaign posters.
ANA