Things will remain the same in #Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa is sceptical that things will be different should President Robert Mugabe be ousted.

She said the reason for this past week's stand-off was because Zanu-PF's warring factions had disagreements but not ideological differences.

"They have been together for nearly 38 years, all the decisions they have made they have made together," Mtetwa said.

She said the factions only had differences once one of them was thrown out, a clear reference to last week's ousting of vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Delivering the Carlos Cardoso Memorial Lecture at University of the Witwatersrand on Thursday night, Mtetwa said it was unlikely something different would arise from Mugabe's axing, unless the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union stepped in to supervise the transition.

The annual lecture was part of the Global Investigative Journalism Conference, which is described as the world's largest international gathering of investigative reporters, and ends tomorrow.

Asked why Mugabe was allowed to rule for nearly four decades, Mtetwa said: "Do you think President Jacob Zuma wouldn't like to be a Mugabe? They're in awe of him".

Mtetwa said Zuma would not reprimand Mugabe for wanting to remain in power when he (Zuma) was trying to get his ex-wife to become president.

She was referring to ANC presidential hopeful Nkosana Dlamini Zuma, who Zuma has endorsed as his replacement.

Mtetwa said Mugabe was seen as a regional godfather by Zimbabwe's neighbours.

"Leaders in the region are a union of leaders, you scratch my back, I scratch your back," said Mtetwa, adding she doubted Mugabe would be rebuked by SADC leaders.

She said in the past decade the situation in Zimbabwe had worsened.

"We are where we are because our problems have multiplied," she said.

She added that Harare had become the rumour capital of the SADC region.

"The culture of openness just isn't there… There is more reliance on rumour than fact," she said.

Mtetwa said Zimbabwe had never been free – largely because there had never been attempts to deal with historical issues that were there before independence in 1980.

"It's very difficult to break from that past," she said.

Mtetwa urged journalists to also pursue private business with the "absolute and complete vigour" with which politicians are pursued.

She said Zimbabwe was now worse off than when diamond fields were discovered, with Mugabe admitting a few years ago that $15 billion in revenue from the precious stone had disappeared.

Zimbabwe Defence Force commander, General Constantino Chiwenga, was recently accused by Zanu-PF's youth league of being responsible for the disappearance of the billions.

"Where did the diamond revenue go?"

Mtetwa said the private businesses that helped siphon the $15bn in Zimbabwean wealth must be found and banned.

Mtetwa, a former prosecutor in Swaziland and Zimbabwe, has represented human rights activists and journalists who have fallen foul of Mugabe's regime.

She has numerous accolades, including the Committee to Protect Journalists' International Press Freedom Award in 2005 and an honorary doctorate from Rhodes University.