News / National
Mugabe in trouble over CIO operations
19 Jun 2015 at 08:05hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe has been dragged to the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) by human rights defenders demanding him to investigate the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) over alleged gross human rights abuses.
Rashid Mahiya and Hilton Chironga - both of Heal Zimbabwe Trust - are seeking an interdict to force Mugabe to put in place mechanisms to investigate CIO agents over their alleged involvement in the killings and abductions of several citizens since independence.
According to NewsDay, in an application filed at the ConCourt early this month by their lawyer Tendai Biti of Tendai Biti Law, Mahiya and Chironga argued that Mugabe was in breach of Section 234 of the Constitution and had no reason to fail to introduce a parliamentary Bill to operationalise the "body that should superintend over the excesses of Mugabe's security apparatus".
"In terms of Section 210 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, an Act of Parliament must provide for an effective and independent mechanism for receiving and investigating complaints from members of the public about misconduct on the part of members of the security services and for remedying any harm caused by such misconduct," the rights activists said in their application.
"More than two years after the passing of the Constitution, the Executive has not complied with the Constitution by bringing into existence the Act of Parliament defined in Section 210 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
"Section 324 says all constitutional obligations must be performed diligently and without delay," the pair argued.
"The failure by the Executive and indeed the respondents to bring the law envisaged in Section 210 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe is a breach of Section 324 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe."
CIO is a dreaded organisation and has been accused of being used as a tool by Zanu-PF in its fights against its opponents.
Rashid Mahiya and Hilton Chironga - both of Heal Zimbabwe Trust - are seeking an interdict to force Mugabe to put in place mechanisms to investigate CIO agents over their alleged involvement in the killings and abductions of several citizens since independence.
According to NewsDay, in an application filed at the ConCourt early this month by their lawyer Tendai Biti of Tendai Biti Law, Mahiya and Chironga argued that Mugabe was in breach of Section 234 of the Constitution and had no reason to fail to introduce a parliamentary Bill to operationalise the "body that should superintend over the excesses of Mugabe's security apparatus".
"In terms of Section 210 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, an Act of Parliament must provide for an effective and independent mechanism for receiving and investigating complaints from members of the public about misconduct on the part of members of the security services and for remedying any harm caused by such misconduct," the rights activists said in their application.
"More than two years after the passing of the Constitution, the Executive has not complied with the Constitution by bringing into existence the Act of Parliament defined in Section 210 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
"Section 324 says all constitutional obligations must be performed diligently and without delay," the pair argued.
"The failure by the Executive and indeed the respondents to bring the law envisaged in Section 210 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe is a breach of Section 324 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe."
CIO is a dreaded organisation and has been accused of being used as a tool by Zanu-PF in its fights against its opponents.
Source - newsday
