Treason charges against Tsvangirai dismissed

Treason charges against Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai arising from secret US documents made public by WikiLeaks will not stand the legal test but will be used to persecute President Robert Mugabe’s longtime foe, lawyers have warned.

Zimbabwe’s Attorney General Johannes Tomana at the weekend announced that a commission would be appointed to investigate the alleged “treasonous collusion” between officials from Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Western governments.

Hardliners from Mr Mugabe’s Zanu PF party have been calling for the prosecution of Mr Tsvangirai following revelations in the WikiLeaks website that he privately urged Western governments to maintain sanctions against the country.

Zanu PF at its conference two weeks ago also called on the inclusive government to come up with a law that would make it treasonous for anyone to call for sanctions against the country.

However, leading human rights lawyer Ms Beatrice Mtetwa said it would be problematic to prove that Mr Tsvangirai committed treason in a court of law.

“From a legal perspective it would be folly,” Ms Mtetwa told a British newspaper.

“When it comes to witnesses, are they going to call back the former US ambassadors?

“The cables are based on opinion, not fact. There are hosts of legal problems.

“But I am not going to say it’s unlikely because the AG has been known to chase rainbows against us. He was put in the position for that particular reason.”

Assassinate Mugabe

Mr Tomana whose unilateral appointment by President Mugabe is one of the sources of the disputes in the inclusive government has been accused of using the courts to persecute the longtime ruler’s political opponents.

Early this year, MDC treasurer general Roy Bennett was acquitted of treason in a case where the AG took the unusual step of leading the prosecution.

In 2004, Mr Tsvangirai was also acquitted of treason after he was accused of plotting to assassinate President Mugabe.

Constitutional law expert Dr Lovemore Madhuku said pursuing treason charges against the Prime Minister following the WikiLeaks revelations was bound to fail like in the previous case.
“No crime was committed,” Dr Madhuku said. “Discussing something with a foreigner is by no means treason.”

Ms Mtetwa also called for an impartial investigation into the WikiLeaks cables as they also quote Zanu PF officials.

President Mugabe’s wife Grace is also suing a privately owned paper for US$15 million for quoting one of the cables alleging that she was involved in illegal diamond deals.

“If there is a commission to look into WikiLeaks, it will have to investigate everything WikiLeaks has discussed, including officials from Zanu PF. It cannot be selective,” Ms Mtetwa said.