Justice on Trial

Two young Portuguese soldiers patrolling Angola's nervous border with Zambia were surprised to see someone beckoning them from the other side. Angola, a Portuguese colony, and Zambia, an independent nation that harbors anti-Portuguese guerrillas, are virtually at war. The two soldiers were curious about the invitation from the other side. They handed their weapons to a comrade and strolled across the border to chat amicably with a Zambian immigration officer. To their chagrin, they found themselves arrested--and sentenced by an African magistrate in a lower court to a fine of $2,800 or two years in prison for entering Zambia illegally.

Reviewing the judgment, Zambian High Court Justice Ifor Evans ruled that the offense was "trivial" and quashed the conviction. In addition, Justice Evans, who is white, noted that the original verdict "did not redound to the credit of the Zambian authorities."

Down from Heaven. The High Court's ruling posed a severe dilemma for moderate President Kenneth Kaunda. He was caught between his respect for an independent judiciary and the nationalistic outrage of his black citizens over the Portuguese, who have been bombing Zambian villages in order to hit the guerrillas.

Under the circumstances, Kaunda had no choice. In an uncharacteristic outburst, he accused the all-white High Court of behaving like "some organization from heaven looking down on us," while "my people are being slaughtered by the Portuguese." He demanded an explanation from Irish-born Chief Justice James Skinner, a longtime friend, and one of 600 of the country's 65,000 whites who have bothered to become Zambian citizens. Unruffled, Skinner backed up his fellow judge: the ruling had not been politically motivated, he replied. Skinner asserted the judiciary's right to "criticize the executive or its individual servants." Kaunda's office retaliated with a statement that sounded threatening: "The President now knows where the judiciary stands, and he will deal with the matter in his own way."

The next day Kaunda's followers decided to deal with the High Court in their own way. Four hundred members of the Zambian Youth Service gathered in front of Lusaka's red-brick High Court. At the sound of a whistle, they stormed inside. Skinner and Evans locked themselves into an office while the youths pounded on the door and broke up furniture. There were more demonstrations in other towns against the High Court, and a number of Europeans were beaten. Posters reflected the angry mood: "The Only Good White Man Is a Dead One" and "One Zambia, One Nation--Minus Whites."

The outburst shocked Kaunda, who told the justices he was "awfully sorry." His apologies came too late. Skinner flew off to London on "indefinite sick leave," and Evans left for Australia. Though Skinner later said he might return to Zambia, a third justice also announced his resignation. Speculation in Zambia was that the remaining four might leave the bench by the end of the year. The High Court crisis badly unsettled Zambia's white residents, who count on the white judiciary as a safeguard against the excesses of black nationalism. The value of private homes in Lusaka has dropped by one-sixth, and many white residents have made plans to leave. A white exodus would harm Zambia's economy, since Europeans play a significant role in running the country's copper mines and other important industries.

The uproar brought into sharp focus the problem of judicial independence in Africa. The concept of an autonomous judiciary rankles many Africans. In Zambia, as in other African nations, justice at the local level is administered by the tribal chief; the concept of a separate court is alien. Moreover, growing nationalism creates impatience with anything that seems to block political and economic goals.

The problem is complicated by racial overtones. In many of the new African nations, including Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda, there are not enough qualified black judges to fill the benches in the higher courts. As a result, most of the senior judges are white --though many of them, like Skinner, have become citizens of the countries in which they serve. According to present standards, black law students, now in the various national universities, will not be eligible to become judges for another five years.

Kaunda will probably cope with the flight of white judges either by recruiting black ones from the Caribbean or by lowering qualifications for black Zambians. In any event, his United National Independence Party, which controls more than two-thirds of Parliament, could take advantage of the crisis to create a new judiciary that is more attuned to the country's politics.

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