Viewing articles from September, 2014
Beatrice Mtetwa - Keynote Speaker
02 Sep 2014
2014 Professional Womens Conference – 2 September 2014
Beatrice Mtetwa has been threatened, harassed, beaten, arrested and jailed. She is also one of Zimbabwe’s most prominent human right’s lawyers and a defender of the rule of law. She has been internationally recognised by both the international press and legal organisations around the world. Earlier this year she was presented with the 2014 International Women of Courage Award by US First Lady, Michelle Obama and recently she has been named as the recipient of the 2014 Ivan Allen Jr Prize for Social Courage, an award given annually to individuals who, by asserting moral principle, positively affected public discourse at the risk of their careers, livelihoods and lives. She will be the first woman to receive this award.
On 2 September 2014 the Canterbury Women’s Legal Association in conjunction with the New Zealand Bar Association will be running its 2nd professional women’s conference at the Rydges Latimer Square and amongst the list of impressive speakers the association is honoured to have Beatrice as the keynote speaker at that conference prior to her speaking at the World Bar Conference in Queenstown later that week.
According to sources (i.e. the internet), Beatrice grew up in Swaziland, the eldest daughter of 50 children. She went to law school at the University of Botswana and started her career as a prosecutor before moving to Zimbabwe in the mid 1980’s. In Zimbabwe she prosecuted cases for the new government of Robert Mugabe. However, within a matter of years she left her job, disillusioned with the “selective justice” that was occurring. She then opened up her own law firm, specialising in human rights law and has become well known for representing both journalists and those persons who are the focus of the Zimbabwe government.
In 2003, she was the victim of a car hijacking. When the police realised who she was, instead of assisting her, they arrested her for alleged drunk driving. However, instead of conducting a breathalyser, the police drove her around and then beat her up. In an interview with Alexis Bloom in February 2006, she described the policeman’s attitude as follows:
“His attitude was that when you talk about police brutality, you’ll now be talking from experience”
In 2007, Beatrice was at a peaceful protest protesting against a police crackdown on the legal profession when she was grabbed by the police, thrown in a car and then pounded by batons at the roadside.
In March 2013 there was international condemnation of her arrest which lead to her trial on obstruction and abuse charges. She was subsequently acquitted, however the process meant that she was out of circulation for 8 months. In an interview with the media she stated she was extremely annoyed because all she was doing was her duty and that because of her arrest many others had found it difficult to get lawyers because lawyers feared that they will end up in the same position that she had ended up.
In May this year the Prosecutor-General filed an appeal against that acquittal. Media reports that it is widely believed that the prosecutor-general is prosecuting Beatrice in an attempt to silence her.
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