The Zimbabwean Movement for Change (MDC) has asked George Bizos, SC, one of South Africa’s top advocates, to defend the party’s leader in a treason trial due to resume in February.
Morgan Tsvangirai is charged with conspiracy to overthrow the Zimbabwean government and for soliciting people to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. He is out on bail of Z$500 000.
The South African advocate is instructed by Bryant Elliot, a Zimbabwean attorney.
Bizos told the Mail & Guardian that he has submitted an application to be admitted to the Harare Bar and expects a response before the end of the month.
Tsvangirai was charged with treason earlier this year after a secretly recorded 10-minute TV documentary was broadcast in which he used the word “eliminate” in reference to Mugabe.
The documentary, produced by the Australian TV station SBS, caused an uproar because it involved the controversial Canadian political consultancy Dickens and Madson. Ari Ben-Menashe, the company’s chief executive, is reported to have once worked for Israeli intelligence.
Other high-profile court cases in the pipeline include the MDC’s challenges to the June 2000 parliamentary elections and the presidential elections in March this year.
The Harare High Court has ruled on nine of the 37 contested constituencies in the 2000 parliamentary elections — five in favour of Zanu-PF and four in favour of the MDC.
The case caused controversy when Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs questioned the relevance of appointing Jeremy Gauntlett, a South African attorney, to represent the MDC rather than a local attorney.
MDC party spokesperson Paul Nyathi says no date has been set for the court challenge to the presidential election. “We would not be surprised if the case was only heard in the next 12 to 24 months because of the backlog of cases before the Harare High Court.”