Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Special Report Enforcing the Rule of Law in Zimbabwe In contrast, an unnamed Government source who attended the meeting between Presidents Moi and Mugabe in Nairobi in mid-June 2001 made it clear that: ‘What Zimbabwe does not want to see is a fixation on peripheral matters, such as the rule of law, democracy, good governance and political violence when the core issue is land. The whole idea is to refocus on the land issue and not issues which are peripheral or if they are an issue, are derivatives from the unresolved principal issue of land.’1 Clearly, Government spokespersons and the current Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa, have not understood the views of Zimbabweans committed to upholding the rule of law. Chinamasa has complained that 'the ordinary people of Zimbabwe and the press share a fixated idea that the rule of law is about maintaining law and order’.2 It is rather the executive which deliberately misunderstands the relationship between the rule of law, preventing anarchy, developing the economy, and acceptable governance. Many Zimbabwean authors and organisations have tried to educate Government and the rest of us on the meaning of the term ‘the rule of law’. Feltoe (2001:131) notes that ‘The rule of law is an essential foundation of any democratic system of governance. [It] is a complex concept but its core aspects are straightforward. The rule of law requires that power be exercised in accordance with the law and disallows the arbitrary use of extra-legal power…everyone should be equally subject to the law and that no-one should be above the law… the law enforcement agencies and the courts should enforce and apply the law impartially…the law should protect everyone equally against illegal action causing harm.’ According to the Civic Alliance for Social and Economic Progress (CASEP), ‘The rule of law is both a legal and political term. It is a term that must always be distinguished from “by law” or “law and order”. The rule of law has now become a universally accepted concept that is intrinsically connected to Human Rights. One of the most established tenets of the rule of law is the doctrine that the law reigns supreme. Put simply this doctrine explicitly puts across the idea that all people in society are subject to the law and to no other “powers”. Perhaps more importantly the doctrine means that government powers shall be exercised subject to the rule of law. The rule of law is thus an essential foundation of any democratic system of governance. This is so because broadly speaking the doctrine demands: the absence of arbitrary power equality before the law independence of the judiciary or impartiality of the law enforcement agencies. Some writers have argued that this concept is the mark of a free society. This is particularly so because where the doctrine is followed government exercises its power only to the extent that this is sanctioned or conferred upon it by the authority of law. If this is allowed to happen, then the law will easily conform to certain minimum standards of justice. 1 2 The Herald 21.6.01. Parliamentary Debates 27,32:3229. 4