Zanu PF tried to bribe me: Mtetwa
Sunday, 10 April 2011 15:32
BY PATIENCE NYANGOVE
AWARD-winning human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa says Zanu PF officials
tried to bribe her so that she would stop representing President Robert
Mu-gabe’s opponents.
Mtetwa, who was last week announced the winner of the United States’ Case
Western Reserve University’s 2011 Inamori Ethics Prize said she had resisted
offers of a farm and appointments to boards of parastatals.
But she refused to name the officials who attempted to bribe her.
“I have also been offered perks if I abandon my human rights work,” Mtetwa
said.
“In 2001 in particular I was offered various positions, boardships in
parastatals, even a farm if I abandoned my human rights work.
“I found it very interesting because the people making those offers were
people I had once represented when their own rights had been violated by the
very system.”
Mtetwa said she turned down the offers because she was not doing her work
for financial benefitbut simply because she believed in what does.