Life in Mugabe's Zimbabwe

BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents brings you six personal stories about life inside President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe.

Chenjurai Hove: Poet "They want people who are yes-men." Jenni Williams: NGO worker "There are now one million orphans." Alexander Kanengoni: Writer and farmer "Mugabe is guided by his beliefs."

Beatrice Mtetwa: Lawyer "There will be nobody to feed the poor." George Shire: Academic "NGOs must assist not intervene." Roy Bennett Imprisoned MP "The people have had enough."

Beatrice Mtetwa, human rights lawyer

Beatrice Mtetwa is a fearless campaigner who has defended some high-profile cases in Zimbabwe.

She has spoken out on controversial legislation such as the Public Order and Security Act and the proposed NGO (non-governmental organisation) Bill, which has attracted criticism from around the world.

Every normal human being has an obligation to stand up and fight that bill Beatrice Mtetwa

"The NGO bill means basically civil society as we know it will simply not be there.

"There would be nobody to record the excesses of government, there will be nobody to help your ordinary person in the street understand their rights. There will be nobody to feed the poor. There will be no other voice other than the government's voice, and this includes churches.

"So the bill is basically seen as closing the democratic spaces, the same as shutting down newspapers. The same as making sure that only one voice is heard.

'Selective application'

"Every normal human being has an obligation to stand up and fight that bill because it has far more serious implications, especially for the poor.

"The poor in Zimbabwe depend entirely on food aid from the NGOs and if you stop that, as the government has done, you are killing innocent, poor people whose day-to-day living is about worrying about where their next meal is coming from.

"[The laws] are only applied to persons who are deemed to be against the government or opposition members of parliament. So there is selective application of the law.

"If, for example, ruling Zanu-PF Party youths decide to go on a march, the police will escort them to wherever they want to go and make sure they get to do what they want to do. That would not happen to those persons who are seen to be government opponents. That is selective application."