Hilary Muza 
THE past few months have seen the legal profession as a whole and some of its members in particular, subjected to serious attack, which has manifested through wanton arrests on fabricated and/or trumped up charges. 
The country’s top advocate Thabani Mpofu, is being prosecuted for a crime whose facts leave one wondering what has gotten into the minds of our State prosecutors.
Advocate Sylvester Hashiti, Tapiwa Makanza and Joshua Chirambwe face a similar quandary. They all face some dubious charges relating to instituting a constitutional application on behalf of an alleged non-existent person.
I am barred from commenting much by legal ethics and rules of procedure since the criminal prosecution is still sub-judice.
Much as the sub-judice rule is firmly entrenched in our law, it does not discourage the public from passing fair comment on a court action or certain conduct of court officials, where such fair comment and criticism is deserved. This is not to suggest however, the prosecution cannot be criticised.
Human rights lawyers, Doug Coltart and Jeremiah Bamu are also facing prosecution for charges that appear flimsy and concocted.
Beatrice Mutetwa was barred recently by the Magistrates’ Court from representing a client Hopewell Chin’ono, under circumstances that are baffling and highly questionable.
In addition to being barred from discharging her professional duties, the presiding Magistrate went a step further and recommended that she be disciplined by the Law Society of Zimbabwe.
The Magistrate’s approach left some members of the legal profession dumbfounded and wondering what this country has come to be.
The police is continuing with its utter contempt of the legal profession by continuing to harass through malicious detentions, lawyers carrying out their professional mandate.
Recently, Bamu was bundled into a police car and made to loiter at the police station under threat of arrest only to be released without charge. The same regrettable situation visited Obey Shava who was detained illegally for approximately four hours only to be released without any charge.
Admire Rubaya is being prosecuted in Bulawayo for allegedly “defeating the course of justice”, and the facts giving rise to his prosecution leave any person with a sense of justice with no doubt that this again is a clear case in which a professional legal practitioner is being called to answer charges unfairly.
The other day, senior legal counsel Tendai Biti, merely questioned why police were conducting themselves in a certain unbefitting way during the fight for the control of the MDC Alliance Headquarters.
For simply that justified conduct, he was humiliated by being bundled into a police lorry and detained until he got released by the court after payment of bail deposit. He is still attending at court for routine remands at a great cost to his time and professional duties.
These occurrences are not just a coincidence. They are very unusual especially judging from where we have come from as a country.
The arrests are following a similar pattern and those behind the arrests are increasingly manifesting a serious abhorrence of the legal profession.
Lawyers are not an existing threat to State power and never shall they be at any given time. Those who think otherwise do so motivated by mysterious paranoia whose root cause they themselves can explain.
Those possessed with this paranoia need to understand one thing, and this is that the legal profession is in existence by virtue of law.
Being a lawful profession and properly regulated like any other regulated professions out there, the profession deserves respect.
I know not of any other profession that gets admission into practice through taking an oath of office before a High Court Judge. This being a sign to demonstrate how our law pays high regard to the legal profession.
The profession must be kept at a distance from the madding crowd. It remains the safest guardian during fights for justice in situations where all others may lose their minds.
The same would apply for our courts. Since my brief in this contribution is not to discuss the courts, I shall leave commenting regarding our courts for another day.
When everything else has been said and done, the Zimbabwe Republic Police who are manifesting a strong appetite for harassing lawyers, need to be careful. The same lawyer that you harass today, may be the lawyer you may need tomorrow once you fall into trouble.
The legal profession is independent and non-partisan and it is only driven by the quest to fight for justice without regard to social status, race, colour or creed.
They are not different from medical doctors whose doors are open to any, be it a politician or non-political actor, in need of help. So just may never know the day he falls sick and hence, must always give respect to doctors. The same would apply with legal professionals.
While remedies are available for those lawyers currently facing prosecution through appeal or review, the mere fact of enduring countless appearances at court instead of discharging their professional duties is nightmarish.
It is highly demeaning and dehumanising for a lawyer to appear as an accused under whatever circumstances.
The current perception that our government is anti-lawyers is unfortunate.
Lawyers must be left alone to carry out their duties without interference, undue harassment for only that can ensure that our administration of justice is indeed truly independent and free from political interference.
Muza is a Harare-based legal practitioner. He writes in his personal capacity.
