JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 35 ____________________________________________________________________ the Public Order and Security Act. The ZCTU sought an order from the High Court to stop police from sitting in on and monitoring these meetings. In April 2002 a High Court Judge, Mr Justice Chinhengo, ruled that the police were not entitled to be present at nor to monitor these meetings. He correctly held that the Public Order and Security Act did not apply because the union’s gathering was not a “public meeting” as defined in the Act. The day after this verdict was reported in the press George Charamba, the permanent secretary in the department of information in the President’s office condemned the decision by Mr Justice Chinhengo in these terms58: “Government is disturbed by the decision by Justice Moses Chinhengo to bar police from ZCTU meetings. The decision is disturbing in so far as it smacks of an open invitation to the ZCTU to embark on lawless actions with impunity. [The ZCTU had been] planning an illegal post-election stay-away whose purpose had everything to do with the failed attempt to use violence to overturn the result of the presidential election and nothing whatsoever to do with the labour matters. Government will fully implement the public order and security act at all times and everywhere in the country without any exception as a matter of the rule of law. We expect more things to come. The government is saying loudly they will disregard the judgement. We don’t believe it’s only this judgement, but any other judgement they will treat with impunity.” These utterances led to a contempt of court charge being brought against Mr Charamba in the High Court. Judgment in this matter is still awaited. Alleged contempt of court by Mr Chinamasa The contemptuous statement When the Minister of Justice, Mr Chinamasa, was the Attorney-General he spoke to the press strongly criticising the sentence imposed upon three Americans who were found guilty of being in possession of a large quantity of arms. He said that the judge, Mr Justice Adam, had imposed a completely inadequate sentence on the convicted