Citing relevant examples, discuss the development of the zimbabwean legal sytem..

A legal system is a set of laws of a country and the way in which they are interpreted
and enforced. Saki and Chiware defines Zimbabwean legal system as a hybrid, or
plural, legal system in the sense that the law currently in force was adopted from
foreign jurisdictions and imposed into the country by settlers during the colonial
era. Zimbabwe’s law after several years of independence still exposes residual traits
of the process of transplantation of historical disempowerment and colonial takeover.
Zimbabwe’s legal system consists of the Common law (non statutory or unwritten
Anglo Roman Dutch Law) Legislation, Case Law (Precedent) and Customary
Law. With the exception of Criminal Law, which has recently been reformed and
codified.1 It shall be the purpose of this essay to discuss the historical development of
Zimbabwe in a chronological manner up until today.

Firstly, before the arrival of the British settlers in 1890, an area called Zimbabwe was
governed by customary laws or traditional laws though these laws were not uniform
in the sense that Mashonaland had several states such as Mutapa and Rozvi state were
traditional laws were applied and the same likewise with Matebeleland, Lobengula
used traditional laws to govern the Ndebele state. According to Saki and Chiware the
law in force before British occupation was the traditional customary law of the tribes
living in Zimbabwe at that time, chiefs and their kraal herds were responsible in
administering the law with chiefs being the judges.2 Though these laws were
unwritten they marked the starting point of Zimbabwean legal system.

As a result of Cecil John Rhodes’ desire to paint Africa red, that is colonising Africa
from Cape to Cairo, in 1888 he signed the fraudlent Rudd Concession with Lobengula
which spear-headed his colonisation tendencies. D.N.Beach argues that the Rudd
Concession was used by Cecil J Rhodes to obtain the charter from the British Queen
in October 1889.3 The Royal Charter itself was the first legal document which
outlined how Rhodesia was to be administered, defining judicial and legislative issues,
Article 10 of the royal charter decreed thus: “… the company shall to the best of its
ability preserve peace and order in such manners as it shall consider necessary and
1
Otto Saki and Tatenda Chiware, The Law In Zimbabwe (2007) pg3
2
Otto Saki and Tatenda Chiware, The Law In Zimbabwe (2007)
3
D.N.Beach
may with that object make ordinances to be approved by (the British) secretary of
state may establish and maintain a force of Police.”.45 Therefore it is categorically
clear from the provision of Article 10 of the Charter that the British South African
Company had judicial and legislative powers which marked the begining of formal
law.

The fraudlent means used by the British to obtain the Royal Charter exerted tensions
between the Ndebele and the whites which inevitably led to the outbreak of the Anglo
Ndebele war in 1893, and the Ndebele were defeated marking the end of the Ndebele
Kingdom. In 1894 after the British won, a High Court was set up from which appeals
would proceed to the Cape Supreme Court. Saki and Chiware are of the view that the
law administered in the colony of Rhodesia were of foreign origin mainly English
Law and Roman Dutch Law.6 by so doing the Roman Dutch Law and English law
came into the legal system of Zimbabwe as these laws were used to govern
Zimbabwe.

According to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/southernrhodesia, In 1923, the whites introduced

Moving on with the historical era, on 11 November 1965, Ian Douglas Smith who was
the Prime minister of Southern Rhodesia declared the Unilateral Declaration of
Independence which sought to free the territory from direct British control and
dominion and establish a system of self governance. In 1969 a new Republican
Constitution was adopted, and, it introduced a non executive Presidence, a bicameral
legislature consisting of house of assembly and a senate. This serves to pinpoint how
the law in Zimbabwe has been etched and shaped by country’s colonial history.

4
Article 10: Royal Charter
5
Royal Charter 1889 Article 10
6
O.Saki and T.Chiware
7
En.wikipedia.org/wiki/southernrhodesia.
African political activists such as Abel Muzorewa and R.G.Mugabe continued to
wage a war against foreign rule in demand for black majority rule and total
independence. In 1978 the white regime entered into talks with the African National
Party were a new 1979 Constitution was agreed, Abel Muzorewa won and became
the Prime Minister and Southern Rhodesia was now known as Zimbabwean Rhodesia.
Political havoc continued, consequently leading to the Lancester House Constitutional
Conference in 1979 which sought majority rule and total independence of Zimbabwe.
On 18 April 1980 ZANU PF won elections and the Lancester House Constitution
came into play as a constitution of Zimbabwe. This clearly depicts that Zimbabwean
legal system is a pre - historic remnant of the colonial era.

From 1980 Zimbabwe used the lancester house constitution in governing its nation.
This constitution was used in conjunction with common law that is the Roman Dutch
Law, more so, the customary laws were also considered as valid and they were
applied mostly in civil matters mostly in rural areas. World Report 2013:Zimbabwe
Event of 2012 has it that, “More than four years after ZANU-PF and the MDC signed
the Global Political Act, few of the reforms outlined in the agreement have been fully
implemented. Reforms needed to… create a parliament-led process to write a new
constitution; …prioritizing a legislative agenda to enshrine the agreement’s
provisions;… and ensuring that the government fully and impartially enforces
domestic laws...After 36 months of discussions, the Constitutional Select Committee
of Parliament produced a final draft of the constitution on July 18, 2012. ZANU-PF
and the MDC engaged in long debates over key provisions. The MDC endorsed the
final draft, but ZANU-PF called for further amendments, including questioning limits
to presidential powers and references to devolution. After some pressure from the
regional body, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), ZANU-PF
backed down and a stakeholder’s conference to discuss the constitution was held from
October 21 to October 23. A date for a referendum on the new constitution has yet to
be set and elections must be held by June 2013, as prescribed by the Global Political
Act.8

8
World Report 2013: Zimbabwe Event of 2012