JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 7 ____________________________________________________________________ GENERAL INTRODUCTION Over the last few years enormous harm has been done to the legal system of Zimbabwe. Judicial and professional independence has been undermined and the integrity of the system compromised. The Mugabe government has waged an ideological battle to re-mould the Zimbabwean legal system into a pliant instrument of governmental power. The government maintained it was simply trying to rid the system of its colonial, reactionary elements and transform it into a progressive system that would support, rather than obstruct, reforms aimed at advancing the rights of the black majority, especially the programme of land redistribution. In reality, however, its main aim seems to have been the establishment of a legal system that would give the government free rein to eradicate organised political opposition, stifle criticism and dissent, and achieve total political domination within the country. To achieve these objectives the government has driven independent judges off the bench and packed the High Court and Supreme Court with judges who it believed would favour the ruling party. Where, despite these efforts, judges and magistrates have continued to give judgments contrary to the perceived interests of the ruling party, government officials have vehemently criticised them, often in terms that amount to contempt of court. Government officials have also refused to comply with court judgments which they do not like. The government has also carried out purges within the police force and the prison service to weed out personnel whom it considered to be sympathetic to the opposition. Some judges and magistrates have courageously continued to carry out their judicial functions impartially and some prosecutors have resisted attempts to influence them to compromise their professionalism. However, where judges, magistrates and prosecutors have displayed commendable professional independence they have been subjected to threats and some magistrates and prosecutors have been physically assaulted.