Lawyers of the struggle
On April 18 in 1980, Southern Rhodesia gained independence from the British, taking the name Zimbabwe. The day marked the end of racial segregation after a protracted war of liberation that claimed many precious lives of dedicated men and women who tenaciously fought for the country’s freedom.
Nationalist leaders such as former President Robert Mugabe, the late Vice-President Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, Cdes Josiah Tongogara and Lookout Masuku among others were at the forefront of the liberation struggle. The list of the country’s liberation war stalwarts would not be complete without mentioning academics and lawyers who worked behind the scenes.
They offered legal representation to nationalists in their endeavour to free Zimbabwe from all forms of injustice and racial segregation. The late Cdes Edison Sithole, Herbert Chitepo, Advocate Lot Senda, the late High Court judge Justice Washington Sansole and the late former University of Zimbabwe Vice-Chancellor Walter Kamba are some of the luminaries whose names come to mind.
Adv Jacob Mudenda, the Speaker of the National Assembly, in an interview with The Chronicle, said black lawyers of the time played a crucial role during the struggle for independence.
“We have black lawyers who represented our nationalists during the course of the liberation struggle. They performed beyond expectation and in many instances they saved them (nationalists) in difficult situations,” he said.
He said the Rhodesian legal system promoted white supremacy.
“The judiciary interprets the law that would be in existence and now the legal system prior to our independence was segregatory against the blacks, and obviously the judiciary then interpreted the law according to the trite law which promoted white supremacy,” said Adv Mudenda.
He singled out retired High Court judge Adv SKM Sibanda as one of the few living legendary black lawyers of the Rhodesian era, describing him as a dedicated lawyer who played a key role in the liberation struggle.
H e a lso pa id tribute to Cde Chitepo who became the first black citizen of the then Rhodesia to become a barrister. Cde Chitepo became the then Rhodesia’s first black lawyer in 1954 after completing his studies in South Africa. On returning to Rhodesia in 1954, he practised as a lawyer and defended African nationalists such as Cde Ndabaningi Sithole in court. In 1961, he served as legal advisor to the late Father Zimbabwe, Dr Nkomo at the Southern Rhodesia Constitutional Conference in London. In May 1962, Zapu was banned because of militarism and Cde Chitepo was persuaded to go into voluntary exile to escape possible race, detention.
Great Zimbabwe University has christened its law school “Herbert Chitepo Law School” after the country’s black lawyer as part of honouring his legacy, which carries symbolic value.
Cde Chitepo was also a famous legal representative of the late VP Simon Vengesai Muzenda who was arrested by the colonial Rhodesian authorities after reciting Solomon Mutsvairo’s poem, Nehanda Nyakasikana.
Cde Chitepo died in Zambia on March 18, 1975 when a car bomb planted in his garage of his Lusaka home exploded. He was buried in Zimbabwe on August 11 in 1981.
Adv Senda is also one of the first black advocates in Zimbabwean history. He died at the age of 94 in December 2016 after a short illness.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was then Vice-President, paid tribute to Adv Senda whom he described as a seasoned lawyer who contributed to the country before and after independence.
Adv Senda was also influential in the Lancaster House talks in 1979. He was also a former Member of Parliament for Bulawayo South and Deputy Minister of Local Government. He worked closely with Cde Chitepo and other nationalists. He witnessed the nascent stages of nationalism, its internal intrigues with the crude and repressive racism of white Rhodesia.
Adv Senda and the Retired Justice Sansole set up a law firm, Sansole and Senda Legal Practioners in Bulawayo which is still in existence but now run by a new breed of legal minds.
Professor Kamba who died in May 2007 was a lawyer and academic. He was one of the few black lawyers who practised in the then Rhodesia. He fled following the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by
Prime Minister Ian Douglas Smith. He also served as a legal advisor to the Zanu-PF and PF-Zapu delegations at the Lancaster House Conference. After independence, he served as principal and ViceChancellor of the University of Zimbabwe from 1981 to 1992.
Adv Mudenda described Prof Kamba as one of the country’s most illustrious sons whose humility, astuteness and contribution to the nation, particularly to academia, cannot be matched.
Dr Sithole was the first black in the entire Southern and Central African region to obtain a Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree from the University of South Africa in 1974 at the age of 39.
He was the first black person in the then Rhodesia to hold such a qualification and one of the founding fathers of the liberation struggle against white minority rule.
Dr Sithole was abducted together with his secretary Miriam Mhlanga by Rhodesian state security agents on October 15, 1975, and both were never found.
He was eventually declared dead when Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1980. A cenotaph monument was installed at the National Heroes’ Acre in his memory in 1999. Dr Sithole was part of the early crop of African nationalists who spearheaded Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence. – @mashnets