Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (OSISA)

You can always tell when President Mugabe is really rattled. It's when he launches into a tirade about white, racist, imperialist conspiracies in a desperate attempt to deflect attention away from the facts. It has worked pretty well for him in the past but his latest rant only served to highlight the issue he currently wants to bury - the state-sanctioned torture of opposition supporters and the fact that those responsible might now be brought to book in South Africa.

While anyone interested in justice and tackling the culture of impunity around crimes against humanity that still prevails in Zimbabwe celebrated yesterday's landmark ruling by the South African High Court, one man was vociferous in his condemnation of the judgment - Zimbabwe's very own (in)Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa.

The indefensible decision by a magistrate in Harare to convict the 'Egypt 6' forconspiracy to incite public violence is another devastating blow to hopes of a genuine transition to a freer, more democratic and more open society in Zimbabwe - and a fatal blow to the rule of law in the country. The magistrate was clearly following poiltical orders since even a cursory examination of the 'evidence' shows that the six (Munyardzai Gwisai, Tafadzwa Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Edson Chakuma, Hopewell Gumbo, and Welcome Zimuto) had less than no case to answer.

Politicians are nothing like leopards. Most of them change their political and ideological spots all too easily - particularly opposition politicians who suddenly find themselves in government. But it is difficult to think of anyone who has changed his spots quite as radically as Zambian President, Michael Sata.