JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 50 ____________________________________________________________________ MDC. “We will use whatever means we have to deal with these foreign nations who want to install a puppet regime in Zimbabwe.” There was an outcry about these threats and later Dr Hunzvi unconvincingly tried to deny he had made them. After the foreign embassies demanded a guarantee of their safety and security, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs said that the government of Zimbabwe would not guarantee the security of foreign embassies and donor agencies that flout their terms of registration by supporting opposition parties and interfering in internal politics. This refusal to offer protection to foreign embassies was later quietly reversed. In protest a number of countries suspended aid to Zimbabwe or threatened to do so. It was only after the government saw that this campaign was attracting widespread international condemnation that it started to rein in the war veterans. However this reining-in process was not very far-reaching. The government pretended that rogue elements within the war veterans and bogus war veterans had perpetrated illegal excesses instead of settling labour disputes. The Harare Province Labour Committee was dissolved.85 Some persons were arrested and prosecuted for extortion. The important war veterans who had orchestrated the campaign, such as Dr Hunzvi and Mr Chinotimba, were not prosecuted, although ZANU (PF)’s vice chairman for Harare province Chris Pasipamire was charged with extortion. One higher-ranking war veteran, Mike Moyo, was arrested but he was soon released. Mr Moyo promptly publicly protested about his arrest. He accused the Minister of Home Affairs, whom he said had sanctioned the business invasions, of double standards. He had ordered the arrest of only the small fish whereas the higher-ups were left untouched. He said that Hunzvi and Chinotimba should have been arrested as they were the ones who had organised the campaign and had made personal fortunes by taking large amounts of the money extorted from commercial companies. 86 Just before he left the bench Mr Justice Gillespie handed down a judgment87 in which he alluded to the breakdown in law and order during these invasions of businesses. In the case before the court a number of accused had twice entered their former employer’s premises as part of a large gang, uttering political slogans and demanding large (and increasing) amounts of money as severance pay. Mr Justice Gillespie had this to say: