"The 2nd Republic Is Behaving Like The 1st Republic," Beatrice Mtetwa

Prominent lawyer and rights defender, Beatrice Mtetwa, has said that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration has so far failed to distinguish itself from that of the late former president, Robert Mugabe as far as respecting human rights is concerned.

Mtetwa was speaking in Harare on Wednesday evening at a discussion forum on the role of the State in safeguarding human rights, that was convened by Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) publishers of the Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday. She said:

In practice, even the Second Republic is not living by that. If citizens need to enjoy their rights to protest, we know that every road into town will be blocked by the police and the army.

The government is not listening to the grievances of citizens. It is behaving exactly as it did in the First Republic. We have seen court orders not being respected in the Second Republic.

She added that the talk about constitutionalism was not being backed by tangible action as the government is still stopping the citizens from enjoying their rights.

Mtetwa was responding to Justice minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi who had said that the government was playing its role of ensuring that people enjoyed their freedoms.

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