If anyone were to use one word to describe the judicial system in Zimbabwe, we might hope for words like ‘fair’ and ‘just’ - perhaps even a word like ‘equal’ may make the listing - but alas, such a list would be a lie.

I worked within the judicial system in Zimbabwe in the early to mid-1980s and watched the legal wheels turn, and perhaps then my only criticism would be that they turned ponderously slow.

But fast forward to the same system in the courts in Zimbabwe today and we witness an entirely different story.

One of the cases which has sprung to prominence is the banditry, terrorism and weapons charges which have been preferred against Roy Bennett, the white commercial farmer who has become a regular target for the Mugabe ‘treatment’.

Roy “Pachedu” Bennett has already spent time in Mugabe’s disgusting jails, having been imprisoned by Parliament for pushing Patrick Chinamasa to the ground reacting to being the subject of a Chinamasa haranguing in which Bennett’s forefathers were labelled as ‘thieves’ and ‘murderers’. But that was only the last straw in the wholesale abuse of Roy Bennett, his family, his farm and his farm workers. Prior to that, Mugabe sent the army in to steal his farm. The army killed one his workers, brutalised and raped others and the stress of this whole sorry saga caused his pregnant wife to lose their child.

Mugabe makes no secret of his dislike of the whites in general and Bennett in particular.

The evidence that Mugabe’s prosecuting council - none other than his unilaterally appointed Attorney-General - will use is fabricated, elicited under duress and torture, manufactured and presented displaying the utmost prejudice.

The State’s key witness, one Michael Hitschmann, a former firearms dealer from the Eastern Highlands town of Mutare, is alleged to have implicated Bennett in his ‘confession’ obtained under torture. Hitschmann supposedly heard and discussed with Bennett an intended conspiracy to assassinate Mugabe.

Hitschmann spent 2 ½ years in Mugabe’s prisons for his ‘crimes’…

Mugabe’s state council have worked tirelessly to present the Bennett case in the worst possible light, and even went so far as to issue the indictment at the courthouse and have his bail revoked. Bennett spent a few days languishing once again in Mugabe prisons - possibly amongst the worst in the world.

Mugabe has refused to swear Bennett into cabinet, stating that he is facing serious charges - which carry the death penalty if a conviction is secured - and prefers to wait for the court to ‘exhaust their authority’ before he can consider any move.

Mugabe talked himself in full circle by bringing up the subject of pardons, stating that any pardon can only be applied once the court has completed their remit. How is it then that Mugabe was able to issue a blanket pardon for all persons involved in the Gukurahundi in the early to mid-1980s in Matabeleland and the Midlands?

Was he not obliged to wait due court process before issuing such an order?

Bennett has lost his Chimanimani farm, his wife lost a baby, and then he sought refuge in South Africa – a safe haven - until it was deemed ’safe’ to return by none other than the South African government.

His very livelihood was plucked from his hand, illegally and with undue and specific force. He and his family have had to realign themselves to being displaced persons, dispossessed commercial farmers, and yet Mugabe is not happy with that.

He wants Bennett to suffer. And so Bennett does. Under Mugabe’s evil eye and deathlike grip on Zimbabwe and the law courts, he has little option but to rely heavily upon his legal representative to ensure that justice is preserved.

Bennett is innocent. If there is anyone out there who believes in justice and fair play and can put a stop to this farcical charade, justice will be well and truly served.

The Attorney-General does not just do Zimbabwe an injustice by being where he is - but the whole of Africa.

The man is ignorant of court procedure, and although the defence council, Beatrice Mtetwa, is making mincemeat of him, the judge, who has already sidestepped a defence request to recuse himself, will obviously do what he is told rather than the right thing.

The Attorney-General has no respect for courts or legal system - what little remains of it.

And since when does the Zimbabwean Attorney-General prosecute a case in court? That has to be a first!

But it is Mugabe who should facing treason charges because he is the one with the blood of thousands of innocent Zimbabweans on his hands.

There is a long list of people who have faced the very same charges that Bennett currently faces. In every single case, the charges have been dismissed. Mugabe has corrupted the judiciary to such an extent that he now uses ‘the law’ and his judiciary as tools of oppression, as a method to tie his victims up financially and to divert their attention.

What is different in Bennett’s case is the extent to which the Attorney-General’s office have gone to create ‘evidence’.

Mugabe desperately wants Bennett convicted.

Not the Mugabe justice that would see people die at the hands of his minions, but the justice that every sane person in the world seeks… Justice is the right to a fair hearing, reasonable punishment if found guilty - and entire vindication if cleared in a court of law.

Justice should be blind - blind to colour creed and religion - but in Zimbabwe it is prolonged, pro-Mugabe and pro-ZANU PF.

In Zimbabwe, the law has become an ass.

Robb WJ Ellis The Bearded Man