Is Zim's Attorney General A Square Peg in a Round Hole?

You don't have to be a lawyer to know that Zimbabwe's Attorney General Johannes Tomana does not inspire confidence as the country's Chief Law Officer, raising the question if he is not a square peg in a round hole.

For instance, the AG has threatened a high profile lawsuit against the European Union for a travel ban on Mugabe and his wife using public funds.

"What I can tell you is that we are done with the paper-work and what is left is to get the necessary travel documents to enable us to travel to Europe," Johannes Tomana told the state-owned Herald last week.

Honestly, should it take Tomana 9 years to feel confident to sue the European Union or something has prompted such a reaction? Does the lawsuit have anything to do with the foiled plans by the Mugabe family to allegedly open Swiss bank accounts?

In January it became public that Mugabe had reportedly lost all the money he once held in a Swiss Bank account estimated at millions of US dollars which he allegedly opened in the name of his 2nd wife Sally to avoid detection. According to Edgar Tekere, Mugabe's  first 'wife' was Abigail Kurangwa.

And Mugabe in a "tutorial" at the airport Sunday from his eighth health visit to Singapore at taxpayer's expense said Switzerland had no right to bar delegates to UN meetings. Is that the same Mugabe who detained and deported a United Nations Torture envoy? Has he forgotten other countries also have the right to protect their "sovereignty"?

However, Johannes Tomana's arrival in Europe could present a rare opportunity for a citizen arrest for allegedly snatching a conservancy in July 2009 from its owner, Kenned Hood using an offer letter from Zanu-PF Governor Titus Maluleke in clear disregard for property rights which he should be upholding.

Since he is also on the banned list, the AG will might face the humiliation of a few hours in air-conditioned western prisons and taste the difference with Mbare's notorious Matapi police cells which he reserves for Mugabe's critics.
 
Last year, the A-G conceded that his law officers and prosecutors had at times misjudged when they unnecessarily invoked section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (CPEA) to effectively reverse the granting of bail to accused persons.

Curiously, the infamous CPEA is the regime's weapon of choice against journalists, opposition and human rights activists who remain incarcerated in filthy prisons against court orders.

Amazingly, in another posturing manoeuvre, the Attorney General Johannes Tomana is reportedly mulling to pull Zimbabwe out of the United Nations over Grace's visa row! Give us a break.

However, it is not the first time that the AG has become embroiled in Grace Mugabe's affairs. In August, observers asked why the Office of the Attorney General and an officer from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe travelled to South Africa to argue on behalf of Mugabe's wife in a civil dispute over haulage trucks.

The civil case which partly reveals how some people "invested" abroad at a time of economic implosion (2007), raised fears last month that Mugabe's family could lose their luxurious US$7 million mansion in Hong-Kong as the "shadowy Chinese businessman" whom they fronted to purchase the house for them was refusing to hand over the title deeds.

How Mugabe could have managed to buy a US $7 million dollar house in Hong Kong in 2007 when Zimbabwe was at the height of hyperinflation and he was reportedly earning US$300 per month after the GNU remains a mystery. But with Zanu-PF in power, and the A-G who is a party fanatic, anything is possible.

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©Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London, zimanalysis2009@gmail.com