JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 51 ____________________________________________________________________ “They [were] among those who have sought to take advantage of the increasing breakdown of the rule of law engineered by the Executive. Their mistake is that they were acting independently for their own benefit rather than under an approved scheme of intimidation.” As a result of this mistake, the judge said, the accused were arrested and convicted of extortion. The sentence imposed on them, however, was grossly inadequate. The proceedings, he said, were a discreditable instance of selective prosecution. Selective prosecution is a serious threat to the administration of justice and it breaches the Constitution, since it denies everyone the equal protection of the law. There was good reason to believe that persons known to be government supporters and involved in acts of violence and intimidation were being left at liberty. That persons such as the accused should be prosecuted and the others not involved an unequal and partial application of the law. The judge concluded that in view of the prevailing conditions it was difficult, if not impossible, for a judicial officer to sit as an independent and effective member of the Bench. Topic 5 5. REPRESSIVE LEGISLATION During the first three months of 2002 two pieces of legislation were enacted that drastically curtailed the fundamental human rights of Zimbabweans, particularly the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. The first, the Public Order and Security Act 88, came into operation towards the end of January and the second, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act 89, came into operation in mid-March. The fears that these pieces of legislation would be used to clamp down upon political opposition and to stifle protest and dissent and criticism of government have proved to be well-founded. 90 A brief summary of these two pieces of legislation is given below: