To my knowledge, most of the judges got farms from government. For example, for judges based in Harare, there is only one judge who has not received a farm from government.39 An independent survey of the state of justice in Zimbabwe in 2004 by lawyers representing five common law bars found that “some Supreme Court and High Court Judges have been allocated land under the government’s… scheme and hold that land at nominal rents and at the government’s pleasure.” The survey concluded that Zimbabwe’s justice system had, as a result, ceased to be independent and impartial.40 The government has further undermined Zimbabwe’s judiciary by disregarding a series of High Court orders and making frequent public pronouncements attacking both the judiciary in general and individual judges in particular.41 For example, in 2005 when Justice Tendai Uchena ruled that Roy Bennet, a jailed MDC member of parliament, was eligible to contest the March 2005 election from jail, President Mugabe described the decision as “stupid” and asked ZANU-PF supporters to ignore the ruling.42 Justice Uchena subsequently reversed his own judgment and disqualified Bennet from participating in elections. In August 2008—amid the current political crisis and an economic collapse that has seen inflation rise to 2.79 quintillion percent at the time of this writing43—the government acted to ensure the judges’ continued support. On August 1 the government, through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), announced in the staterun newspaper The Herald that it had bought and delivered luxury cars, plasma television sets and electricity generators to all judges.44 The government explained 39 Human Rights Watch interview with lawyer, Harare, August 29, 2008. 40 The State of Justice in Zimbabwe, pp. 4-5. 41 In 2004 the government disregarded three court rulings in favor of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe to enable a banned daily newspaper to publish in Zimbabwe. The then-information minister, Jonathan Moyo, dismissed one of the judgments as academic and therefore unenforceable. “Mugabe undermines Judiciary,” The Zimbabwe Independent, September 1, 2004. 42 “Mugabe undermining Electoral Court, say lawyers,” Zimonline, March 18 2005, www.zimonline.co.za (accessed September 15, 2008). 43 “New Hyperinflation Index (HHIZ) Puts Zimbabwe Inflation at 2.79 Quintillion Percent,” The CATO Institute, October 31, 2008, http://cato.org/zimbabwe (accessed November 5, 2008). 44 “[Reserve Bank Governor] Gono buys cars, TVs, generators for judges,” The Herald, August 2, 2008. “Our Hands Are Tied” 16