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Can Chihuri use force against himself?
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
February 28, 2008

"The courts can do whatever they want, but no judicial decision will stand in our way . . . My own position is that we should not even be defending our position in courts. This country is our country and this land is our land . . . if that is Hitler, and then let me be a Hitler tenfold. Ten times. That is what we stand for."

President Robert Mugabe (CNN-December 14 2000)

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition notes with grave concern, the utterances made by the Commissioner General of the Police, Augustine Chihuri as quoted in The Herald of Wednesday 27 February 2008, and on Zimbabwe Television on the 26th of February 2008, where he announced that the police would not hesitate to use "full force, including gunfire", against perpetrators of political violence.

The record on political violence in Zimbabwe shows that the ruling Zanu PF party and government securocrats have been at the forefront of instigating politically motivated violence against dissenting voices. The events of the previous week which saw the torture of nine Progressive Teacher's Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) by the ruling party militia in full view of police officers show the force's complicit in the perpetration of politically motivated violence, and the arrest of the victims, while the perpetrators were left at large to continue with the terror campaign against anyone criticizing the establishment, was hardly surprising given that the Commissioner General of Police, Augustine Chihuri is open about his political loyalties to ZANU P.F ( Zimbabwe's Ruling Party led by President Robert Mugabe). In 2001, The Police Commissioner General stated that:

"I would like to make it public that I support Zanu PF because it is the ruling party. If any other party comes to power, I will resign and let those who support it take over." (The Daily News - 2 June 2001)

Chihuri's utterances go against the philosophy of the neutrality of the police force, and showed then as is now, the lack of professionalism and partisan nature of the police, bringing to question the force's ability to be an impartial arbiter in disputes and effective administrator of the law. The wonder if the Police Commissioner General can use full force against himself.

The Commissioner General of Police, Chihuri's declaration that he is Zanu PF at heart, coupled with President Robert Mugabe assertions in 2003 that they will pay no respect to the courts, helps to provide a clear picture of what Zanu PF is. It is therefore shocking to note that Chihuri can make a statement of such a nature on political violence. Given the trends in Political Violence in Zimbabwe, what it entails is that the Commissioner wants to use "fire arms" primarily against himself and his colleagues in ZANU P.F, an impossibility judging from Polices current form and its partisan nature as seen from the Commissioner General's utterances.

The disdain for the rule of law, as seen from President Mugabe's pronouncements, and the Commissioner General's words and actions, persuades the Coalition to believe that the intended import of the commissioners words, is that they intend to use gunfire to silence the opposition in the country, given the Hitler attitude which guides the operations of Zanu PF and its ruthless response against dissenting voices.

The Coalition feels that Commissioner General Chihuri's statements are a danger to national safety, peace, tranquility and the freedom of the entire citizenry. The use of "full force" by the police against citizens exercising their rights or venting their disappointment and frustration, were met with grave consequences in Kenya and led to the loss of the lives of at least 1000 Kenyans. We hope that the Commissioner General is not threatening Zimbabweans with a similar fate.

The police force of any given nation is supposed to be a law enforcement arm of the state, not the ruling party. However, given the fact that the head of the police declared that he is Zanu PF, it will call for a very fertile imagination for one to believe that he will enforce the law impartially given how the leader of the party views the role of the country's courts, which are supposed to interpret the law as the police enforces it, but Zanu PF made a declaration in 2000 that the party, including its supporters will not defend their position in the judiciary system of the country.

It is sad to note, that this is not the first time the Police Commissioner General has shown his allegiance to the establishment, in 2002, he was one of the high ranking government officials who flanked the then Army Commander, General Vitalis Zvinavashe at a press conference in Harare maintaining that the uniformed forces would not accept a presidential poll outcome if the winner did not hold liberation credentials.

Suffice to note that state operatives and ruling party members who murdered the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) members and supporters during the 2000, 2002 and 2005 elections including Talent Mabika and Tichaona Chiminya have not been apprehended, due to their political affiliation to the party. This is irrespective of the fact that one of them is a well known Central Intelligence Organization agent, Joseph Mwale who is walking freely in Lusaka Zambia , where he is serving as a member of the Zimbabwean consulate in spite of the cold blooded murder of Mabika and Chiminya. Clearly the law has been made into such a farce.

The Coalition holds that, this is the curse of the Zanu PF politics of patronage, the chief law enforcing agent in the country, comes out in the open before elections claiming that members of the opposition are puppets of the West and that the police will use gunfire to protect the country from western imperialists. The threats by the police commissioner cum Zanu PF activist are also coming at a time when cases of massive human rights violations are being committed by the very arm which is supposed to protect the citizenry, irrespective of their socio-political and economic status. The torture of the ZCTU leadership on 13 September 2006; the murder of Gift Tandare and torture of the Save Zimbabwe Leadership on 11 March 2007; the wave of abduction of the MDC leadership in the aftermath of the activities of 11 March by the state operatives and the police have not led to the arrests of the responsible police officers.

Crisis Coalition holds that the utterances by the police commissioner are very inflammatory and are inciting the police to continue with their brutal attacks of the opposition, civil society and members of the public, both inside and outside police custody.

A police force headed by a Zanu PF apologist will definitely not execute their duties with the impartiality and objectivity required to produce a democratic verdict in the 2008 general elections. It is not the role of the police to threaten violence against citizens but to remind them of the need to conduct business in lawful ways.

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