Zimbabweans ‘now expressing themselves freely’ after Robert Mugabe

February 1, 2018
| Report Focus News

Harare – A European Union delegation currently in Harare has reportedly said that Zimbabweans are “now expressing themselves freely” since the ouster of ex-president Robert Mugabe in November.

According to New Zimbabwe.com, speaking during an EU funded justice sector support programme in the capital, one of the EU envoys, Phillipe Van Damme said that the western bloc had realised that since the nonagenarian’s ouster the country was becoming “a democracy”.

He, however, said that although the new government had allowed people to speak freely, citizens would fully enjoy their freedoms if the judiciary worked in their interests.

“The people’s hopes for a new Zimbabwe are directed at the judiciary and justice system as a whole. EU, therefore, calls upon the chiefs councils, the Judicial Services Commission and government to make a constitutional rule of law that prevails in customary courts, as they are closest to the people and most vulnerable,” Van Damme was quoted as saying.

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This came amid a report by the state-owned Herald newspaper that the EU had injected $17 million into the southern African country’s justice system, “in a move meant to improve justice delivery and strengthen the rule of law”.

The report said that the funds would be spread across stakeholders in the justice sector such as the Judicial Service Commission, Law Society of Zimbabwe, Legal Resources Foundation, the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Chief’s Council.