Lawyers have expressed concern over increasing attacks by the Zimbabwean government on the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ).


In a recent newspaper article entitled 'Lawyers' body fights for return of Rhodesia', Tafataona Mahoso, chairman of the government-appointed Media and Information Commission, accused the LSZ of being sponsored by foreign powers and claimed it has an agenda to return Zimbabwe to the days of colonial rule.



Inferring that the LSZ will be subject to government action if it continues to work in opposition to the policies of the current administration, he said Zimbabwe must 'figure out what it wants government to do with the LSZ' - even though the law society's independence and self-regulation is ensured by statute.



Another article, written under what is thought to be a pseudonym of President Robert Mugabe's spokesman, also attacked the LSZ, saying it is trying to ferment economic and political instability.



Both articles sought to discredit the LSZ by pointing to its recent challenge to Zimbabwe's money laundering legislation. The society insists that it was motivated by a desire to protect lawyer-client confidentiality and independence of both the legal profession and judiciary.



Arnold Tsunga, secretary of the LSZ, said: 'The legal profession has largely been standing in between the unbridled power of the state and the people of Zimbabwe and offering a safety net to human rights defenders facing persecution. It therefore comes as little surprise that the state is now angling itself for an attack on the independence and self-regulation of the legal profession in Zimbabwe.'



A statement from the Southern Africa Litigation Centre said: 'Following so close on each other, the articles seem a co-ordinated attempt to discredit the LSZ in the eyes of ordinary Zimbabweans, and also to threaten the LSZ with more repressive action should it continue its opposition to the government.'



Retired South African Constitutional Court judge Richard Goldstone, co-chairman of the International Bar Association's (IBA) human rights institute, added that the LSZ seemed to be facing threats as a result of 'carrying out its essential role'.