“It is futile hurrying to write a law which will prove perishable only the morning after.” Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitution imposes on the State, among other obligations, to ensure practical measures are taken to protect and promote fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights for their realisation and fulfilment. Remarks by bureaucrats, such as Charamba, betray the government’s determination to maintain the status quo and proceed to the 2018 elections without reforms despite pledges by President Mnangagwa to break with the past. Such statements smack of insincerity on the part of government and a great betrayal to the multitudes that marched in November 2017 demanding Mugabe’s departure in the hope of a new constitutional dispensation. Over and above the obligations imposed on the State by the constitution, Charamba should be reminded of the findings and recommendations of the government-sanctioned Information and Media Panel of Inquiry (IMPI), spearheaded by his very own ministry. The 666-page report released on 18 March 2015, recommends the repeal of laws such as AIPPA, Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (CODE), BSA, Censorship and Entertainment Controls Act (CECA), Official Secrets Act (OSA) and Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act. The report notes that: “The orientation of laws affecting the information sector has been one of control, and not one of viewing this sector anew as a growth pole in the national economy. Legally, the information revolution has thrown up new issues to do with growth promotion, regulation, standards and protection of society from negative, harmful material. “The main recommendation is the need for review of existing media laws in line with the Constitution, including media regulation and removal of all penal measures and criminalisation.” To therefore act otherwise, would be a serious subversion of the people’s will as expressed through their endorsement of the 2013 Constitution and the IMPI public outreach programmes’ findings and recommendations. 5