After the 1 August shootings, there was a case in which lawyers were seeking correct and proper post-mortem results, that reflected actual cause of death as opposed to reports that indicated death by stab wounds. The lawyers in that case were threatened. In some cases, lawyers were denied access to clients. This included being lied to as to where clients were. Authorities often did not allow detainees prompt or regular access to their lawyers and often informed lawyers who attempted to visit their clients that detainees or those with authority to grant access were unavailable. The government also monitored, harassed, and intimidated human rights lawyers when they attempted to gain access to their clients. Access to Legal Aid The Legal Aid Directorate, a department within the Ministry of Justice is mandated to provide legal services to the indigent in terms of the Legal Aid Act. LAD has a means test that is used to decide who qualifies for legal services. Once a client qualifies, the client is required to pay what is known as a “contribution”, which is a small token payment before LAD can assist. However, some of the challenges LAD lawyers came across were clients so indigent as to not have money to get the processes issued by the clerk of court, let alone to afford service of process by the Messenger of Court. LAD has managed to set up offices at provincial centres in all the 10 provinces of the country. On 9 August, former finance minister and senior MDC Alliance official Tendai Biti was detained trying to flee Zimbabwe via Zambia and was forcibly returned to Harare. Biti was initially denied access to legal counsel and his lawyer Unite Saizi was severely assaulted by the police, and was and deliberately prevented from accompanying Biti to Harare Central Police station. The lawyer was threatened with unspecified actions, including by the Military Police. Biti was subsequently charged with inciting post-election violence and unlawfully announcing election results. Biti’s lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa told Harare Magistrate Francis Mapfumo on 20 August that the state security agents, who intercepted Saizi in Kariba in Mashonaland West province after he was deployed to offer emergency legal support services and to ensure Biti’s safety, severely assaulted him, dispossessed him of his mobile phone and punctured his vehicle tyres to stop him from tracking the convoy in which Biti was travelling in. However, while LAD has a vision to have an officer everywhere where there is a court in Zimbabwe, LAD is not yet operating full time in districts. The Directorate was also limited by shortage of staff, with an average 3 lawyers at each provincial centre. LAD lawyers were not resourced to travel to all district courts across the country to attend to cases. In addition, LAD did not conduct any awareness programmes to ensure that the legal aid institution was known. Much of the Legal aid was provided by civil society legal aid organisations. There is currently a consortium of five legal aid organisation that offer legal services across the country, among them Women and Law in Southern Africa (WILSA), Justice for Children (JCT), Legal Resources Foundation (LRF), Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA). Other organisations are beginning to emerge, among them Abameli Lawyers for Human Rights and the Christian Legal Aid Society, both in Bulawayo. Lawyers were generally vilified for representing the so-called “criminals around President Mugabe” in the aftermath of Mugabe’s demise. These were mostly the G40 members who were arrested and charged with mostly corruption and criminal abuse of office. Lawyer Jonathan Samkange had to withdrew agency in a case in which he was representing former G40 minister Saviour Kasukuwere after he received threats from ZANU-PF youths. The legal aid consortium operated a held desk programme at courts in Harare, Bindura, Chinhoyi and Goromonzi. The help desk services offered legal empowerment on court processes and procedures so that clients could be self-actors in court. 63 STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ZIMBABWE 2018