'There has been no incident where the rule of law has been breached' - Mnangagwa

President Mnangagwa has said that no rule of law has been breached in Zimbabwe during his presidency. He was speaking to a Nikkei journalist during an interview during the just ended TICAD.

Asked about reports of a crackdown against the opposition and how that could be the reason for sanctions by the US against Zimbabwe, Mnangagwa responded:

A: There has been no incident where the rule of law has been breached. Not even one incident. We apply the rule of law; those who commit crime, the law must apply. You cannot have double standards where the rule of law (applies); if people funded by the Americans commit crimes, we should not touch them? No! Zimbabwe is a unitary State and our laws apply to every citizen, whether you are in the opposition or you are in Government or don’t belong to any political party at all. If you commit murder, you get arrested; if you commit corruption, you get arrested; any violent act, you get arrested. That is the rule of law which we observe.

I would like you to quote an action where Zimbabwe has acted outside the rule of law, then I would like to hear that.

The government has been criticised for the 1 August 2018 killings immediately after elections and a commission set to investigate the matter found that the army, under the president’s instruction, shot and killed civilians. No individual has been arrested or tried for the killings.

There was also a crackdown on civilians by the military and police after that the January 2019 protests. The crackdown resulted in the death of more than 10 civilians but no individual has been tried for the deaths.

In recent weeks there has been a number of abductions and beatings of activists and opposition politicians. The government has accused the opposition of stage-managing the abductions but no arrests have been made thus far.

More: The Sunday Mail