Mugabe's cronies lose legal aid in torture case
A TOP Zimbabwean official yesterday said several senior officials and cronies of President Robert Mugabe being sued for torture had been renounced by the state and would not receive legal assistance.
Deputy Attorney General, Prince Machaya, told The Associated Press (AP) that the state would not represent officials being sued by prominent human rights activist, Jestina Mukoko and eight others.
The activists are seeking US$500 million for wrongful arrest, torture and abduction after their terror charges were dropped.
The list of defendants includes the security and defence ministers and the police chief -all Mugabe loyalists.
Mukoko's lawyer, Harrison Nkomo, said the case was now a private matter between his clients and the defendants
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, has vowed that he would quit if he is asked to return the local dollar which was abandoned as the country fought a losing battle with hyperinflation.
"If someone is to ask me bring back the Zimbabwe dollar, then there will be a vacancy on the sixth floor of the government complex and I will go back to my law firm," Biti was quoted as saying by the Herald newspaper.
"The Zimbabwe dollar has been an instrument of arbitrage and rent-seeking behaviour. It had become an instrument of theft, so we can't allow that."
He said debate on the possible return of the Zimbabwe dollar should only start in November next year.
Biti, a lawyer, was appointed finance minister in February in a power-sharing government between the country's three major political parties - Mugabe's ZANU-PF, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and a breakaway faction of the MDC led by Arthur Mutambara.
The compromise government sought to ease political tensions in the wake of a contentious presidential run-off election and to mend the country's economy, which was on its knees after taking years of battering.
When it took office, the new government abandoned the Zimbabwe dollar and adopted multiple foreign currencies as a measure to curb galloping inflation which forced thrice-daily price increases in some cases, rendering the local currency unusable.
The move saw shops, which resembled empty sheds, restocking although the foreign currency was hard to come by for the average citizen.
Mugabe hinted that he would ask Biti to bring back the Zimbabwe dollar, saying the majority of the people had no access to foreign currency.
Biti said he was reluctant to join the inclusive government.
"I took this job because Mr. Tsvangirai asked me to do it," the Herald quoted him as saying.
"As you know, I didn't want to be part of this government but after the (MDC) party's national council resolved that we should go in, I had no option."
Recently, Zimbabwe's central bank chief said the government had frozen Nestle's local accounts and ordered an audit after Nestle stopped buying milk from a farm owned by Mugabe's wife.
Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono, told the weekly Zimbabwe Independent newspaper on Saturday that two possible "irregular" transactions were found in the company's accounts.
Nestle's finance director, Farai Munestsi, said that access to funds at five banks had been blocked.
The international food company stopped buying milk from Grace Mugabe's farm this month after facing worldwide boycott threats. The suspension of funds could cripple its Zimbabwe operations.
