SW Radio Africa – letter from Siphosami Malunga
Dear Mr. President
I read with utter dismay what was ascribed to be your comments relating to David Coltart and Roy Bennett as reported in the Herald of 5 September 2002. Those comments have motivated me to set the record straight and jolt your memory somewhat about the past. I have made this letter public because your comments were and it is necessary for the public to be made aware of the full facts.
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Siphosami Malunga, the second son and fourth child of the late Sidney Donald Malunga, M.P for Makokoba, who died in August 1994 and was declared a national hero by your government and buried at the National Heroes Acre. I am writing this letter from the newly independent Democratic Republic of East Timor where I am a trial attorney in the Special Panel for Serious Crimes which is entrusted with the responsibility over trials of persons (including civilian, military and political leaders) for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, violations of the laws and customs of war and other serious human rights abuses which occurred in East Timor between 1975 and 1999. It is work which I enjoy as its purpose is the achievement of justice in a post-tyrannical and post-dictatorial regime which targeted the civilian population for human rights abuse.
Lest your criticisms of David Coltart in particular be taken as gospel truth, I would like to highlight certain facts. You have labelled David Coltart and Roy Bennett as being British (as if that on its own were a sin). I will have you know that they were both born in Zimbabwe, Coltart in Gweru to be precise. According to Section 4 of our Constitution both are Zimbabwean. You were quoted as saying that Coltart and Bennett must leave Zimbabwe or else they would be imprisoned. I wish to remind you Mr. President that no matter how unpleasant you may regard the two parliamentarians and their views, you have no choice. They are Zimbabweans and therefore constitutionally guaranteed the right to live in Zimbabwe. This right is absolute. A citizen cannot be deported from his own country and it would be interesting to hear your reasons for your position if any.
That said, you are reported to have threatened Coltart and Bennett with imprisonment if they remain in Zimbabwe. I wish to draw to your attention Mr. President, to Section 13 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which guarantees every citizen the right against arbitrary deprivation of liberty. Any imprisonment of Coltart and Bennett simply on your arbitrary decree would be a violation of their Constitutionally guaranteed rights. I urge you to desist from this course of action. In doing so I reflect Mr. President on how imprisonment has been used by your government against perceived political opponents such as Coltart and Bennett in the past. Between 1982 and 1987 your government detained amongst other PF ZAPU leaders and ZIPRA commanders, Sidney Malunga- my father.
I am not authorised to speak in relation to others so I will limit myself to speaking of Sidney Malunga. At the time of his detention, you were Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and First Secretary of ZANU PF. The main reason for Malunga’s detention was that he was a vocal critic of government corruption, abuse of human rights and political persecution inter alia. It seems Mr. President, that imprisonment is still being used by your government as a political tool to suppress the legitimate voice of the opposition. Do you recall Mr. President how, your government used the same tactics currently employed against opposition supporters and leaders, how the police and the CIO raided the homes of PF ZAPU politicians, including my own home. The constant raids on the homes of MDC leaders including its President come as no surprise to many. That is your government’s modus operandi. It has always been. So, the recent intimidation of the opposition and its supporters, the beatings, the torture, the arrests, the detentions, and the killings is the only way the government knows how to deal with its opponents. Like MDC, PF ZAPU was branded by yourself and your government as saboteurs, and enemies of the State. We all know of course that PF ZAPU played as crucial a role for the independence of Zimbabwe as ZANU PF did and that its leaders spent an equal amount of time in political detention under the Ian Smith regime as ZANU PF leaders. Malunga is one such example. We also know that ZIPRA played as important a role in the armed struggle for Zimbabwe’s liberation. Yet, its commanders spent long spells in detention in post independent Zimbabwe under your government.
Let me revert to David Coltart’s track record in particular. I disagree with your one-sided and false allegations against him. I first came to know David Coltart in 1985 when he took up my late father’s case in which your government accused him of aiding or assisting dissidents. I should remind you Mr. President that at this time your government had declared its intention to ‘wipe out’ PF ZAPU and its leadership and the Zimbabwe National Army was fully deployed in Matabeleland and the Midlands amidst a state of emergency. It was an unsafe time for many of us and David Coltart showed courage and commitment to take up this case when not many lawyers were willing to do so for fear of repercussions from your government. Sidney Malunga was detained in April 1985 and David Coltart worked tirelessly, in the face of intimidation, threats, and difficult circumstances to secure his release. Even as Central Intelligence Organisation agents and police tortured and shuffled him from prison to prison in order to prevent him from having access to his lawyer, David Coltart left no stone unturned in order to consult with his client. I need not mention that with Coltart’s representation, Malunga was acquitted of these charges. Malunga was also charged with treason and again acquitted. Once again, David Coltart represented him in the most difficult of circumstances.
I disagree that Coltart is a puppet and that his opinions are anybody’s other than his own. As I know him, David Coltart is primarily a lawyer and a human rights advocate. He has always been a man of principle. Later on in 1991, I had the opportunity to work with him on some projects including the cases of the disappearances and alleged murders of civilians at the hands of the Gukurahundi in Matabeleland and Midlands in the eighties.
With no motive apart from the pursuit for justice, he headed the Bulawayo Legal Projects Centre in its assistance of victims of the Gukurahundi in their quest for accountability and compensation. I was impressed that as a white Zimbabwean Coltart was pre-occupied with pursuing justice for the thousands of black victims of human rights abuses by the government in the 1980’s. It is disappointing Mr. President that you now use race as a basis for attacking people like David Coltart. I recall how shortly after independence 1980 you called on all Zimbabweans in the diaspora, David Coltart included to return to Zimbabwe to contribute to building a truly non-racial society based on equality. Have you changed your mind Mr. President? Is Zimbabwe now only for blacks? How does that compare with the apartheid regime of Ian Smith?
As a young lawyer recently graduated from University in 1994, I found Coltart encouraging and inspirational. He nurtured my own interest in human rights and accountability of perpetrators of human rights abuse- a field in which I am now heavily involved in East Timor and hope to be involved one day in my own country. Now David Coltart finds himself, together with other leaders of the opposition as well as its supporters on the receiving end of your government’s wrath simply for holding opinions different from the governments. He and Roy Bennett are dutiful citizens exercising not only their constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech but also their parliamentary mandate on behalf of their constituents. To allege that Coltart is the puppet master of the opposition MP’s is to belittle the institution of Parliament, which is a cornerstone of our democratic heritage as well as to insult, our intelligence. I recall Mr. President how you branded Sidney Malunga, the late Lazarus Nzarayebani, Margaret Dongo and Byron Hove as rebels for their fearless debate and critical views of issues in the House of Assembly and their criticism of government policy. Is this a case of de ja vu? Once upon a time when you were Prime Minister you used to face MP’s during question time and tackle criticisms head on. Now it seems that the exercise of one of the most fundamental democratic functions (parliamentary representation) causes discomfiture to your government.
It is a most sad state of affairs Mr. President when in life the government hunts down those of its own citizens who fight for equality, democracy and human rights and later extols them in death. I say this of Sidney Malunga. I find it ironic that you attack the virtue and integrity of the one person, who, when you had Malunga cornered rose to the challenge and refused to allow your government to finish him off. Next time you speak of Malunga as the hero of heroes as you have described him, the voice of the voiceless, a fearless debater in Parliament, please Mr. President remember that were it not for people like David Coltart, Malunga may not have been able to be all these things and that he did all this in spite of the goverment harassment of him. As the son of this hero, a human rights lawyer and an accountability advocate, I therefore urge you to retract your criticisms and desist from further making them.
Finally, Mr. President, I wish to express my concern about the general state of affairs in Zimbabwe, which I am certain, has been caused by your government. The validity of the Presidential election remains an issue which must be resolved, over 6 million people face starvation and food aid is reportedly being denied to opposition supporters, the law is being applied selectively against opposition members or government opponents, the judiciary is constantly under attack from the executive for exercising its democratic and constitutionally protected independence, your government has constantly encroached on this independence, your party ZANU PF is reportedly torturing opposition supporters, and the government continues its onslaught on press freedom. This is indeed a sad state of affairs and one, which you are constitutionally obliged to redress.
I recommend that your government take the following measures as a matter of urgency:
· call a fresh Presidential election,
· ensure that food aid is distributed to all who need it regardless of political affiliations,
· repeal the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act which violates the freedom of the press,
· repeal the Public Order and Security Act which is the worst encroachment on constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties in Zimbabwe,
· assure the safety and protection of all citizens and allow them to exercise their fundamental rights without interference,
· not only comply with decisions of the Courts but also enforce them in order to maintain the greatest respect for the judiciary,
· bring to justice known perpetrators of human rights violations in Zimbabwe without further delay.
I thank you for taking the time to read my letter and pledge myself to participate in the process of bringing known violators of human rights justice should your government commence this process.
Yours sincerely
Siphosami Malunga
Dili, East Timor