THE report card is out. State actors have wilfully ignored the Constitution amid a widening gap between the country’s strong legal protections and actual enforcement, particularly in the area of civil and political rights.
This, according to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) 2025 report, demonstrates that a gap remains between legal frameworks and the lived reality for many Zimbabweans.
In its report released last week, ZHRC said arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention of activists and journalists, political intolerance and restrictions on peaceful demonstration continue to undermine constitutional freedoms, deepen fear among citizens and shrink civic space.
This is happening despite the 2013 Constitution being hailed as progressive, introducing justiciable rights that are enforceable through the courts.
On paper, Zimbabwe has one of the strongest rights frameworks in the region. In practice, however, those rights are routinely suspended by the very State actors sworn to uphold them.
ZHRC said the promise of the Constitution is yet to be fully realised as concerns of shrinking civic space, enactment of the Private Voluntary Organisations Act and the arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention of human rights defenders, journalists and activists, political intolerance, and the unconstitutional restriction to peaceful demonstration continue to create a climate of fear and inhibit the work of civil society.
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For the second republic, the latest ZHRC report tears into hollow claims of its adherence to the Constitution.
This reality sits in direct contradiction to the second republic’s founding promise of a break from repression, lawlessness and intolerance.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa pledged a new dispensation anchored on the rule of law and respect for constitutionalism.
Yet, the lived reality described by ZHRC mirrors the very abuses the new order claimed to have buried, reducing the new dispensation to a mirror image of its predecessor.
When civic organisations are restricted, student leaders abducted, activists tortured and demonstrations declared “unsanctioned” despite the absence of such legal requirement, the Constitution is not merely ignored — it is blatantly undermined. A State that fears peaceful assembly and free expression cannot credibly claim commitment to democracy.
The swiftness with which authorities have moved to silence dissent shows misplaced priorities.
The government has struggled to fund the health sector, but has moved swiftly to crush demonstrations.
ZHRC noted commendable initiatives such as school feeding programmes, borehole drilling and agricultural support schemes.
While these programmes are laudable, they cannot mask the structural failures that keep millions trapped in poverty.
They must not provide an excuse for constitutional violations. Human rights are indivisible and the government cannot cherry-pick rights to respect.
We applaud the human rights watchdog for speaking truth to power. The Mnangagwa administration is at a crossroads.
It can either continue down the path of constitutional erosion, fear and isolation — or honour its promises by closing the gap between law and reality.
That requires more than ratifying treaties and issuing policy statements. It demands political will, institutional independence and zero tolerance for abuse.
The supremacy of the Constitution is clearly articulated. Section 2 of the Constitution refers to it as the supreme law of Zimbabwe and any law, practice, custom or conduct inconsistent with it is invalid to the extent of the inconsistency.
It states that the obligations imposed by the Constitution are binding on every person, natural or juristic, including the State and all executive, legislative and judicial institutions and agencies of government at every level, and must be fulfilled by them.
A State that betrays its supreme law ultimately betrays its people.