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Police must stop selective application of the law
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
November 07, 2011

The reign of terror orchestrated by pro-ZANU PF activists still continue to inflict harm on non ZANU-PF supporters. This follows ZANU-PF's blood bath disturbances of a peaceful rally organized by the MDC-T at Chibuku Stadium in Chitungwiza yesterday the 6th of November 2011 in the afternoon. Instead of curbing the violence the Riot police pounced on the MDC-T supporters as they castigated them for causing the violence. Instead of conducting itself as national security force whose constitutional duty is to maintain law and order, the Zimbabwe police continue to behave like an appendage of ZANU-PF.

This incident comes barely a week after police blocked MDC rallies in Lupane and Victoria Falls, Matebeleland North province and a constituency meeting in Hatcliffe (Harare) in defiance of a High Court order allowing the rallies to proceed uninterrupted. The reign of terror perpetrated by ZANU PF and its allies has caused untold suffering to the people of Zimbabwe despite the commitment by three parties in the GPA. Moreover, the Zimbabwe Peace Project, in its September 2011 human right monitoring report lamented the huge rise in human right violations with a record 791 violations up from 720 recorded in August 2011. The majority of these violations mainly orchestrated by the law enforcement agents and ZANU PF militia continue to take place under the guise of protecting the nation's sovereignty and independence.

Moreover the ZANU PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo has blamed the MDC-T for perpetrating violence by forcing people to attend its meetings. This further solidifies ZANU-PF's failure to honor its commitment to the Global Peace Agreement of desisting from disrupting programs aimed at ensuring security, electoral and constitutional reforms ahead of next year's anticipated polls. Such partisan conduct of law enforcement officers in Zimbabwe is an indication of the urgent need for security sector reform, the tackling down of the ongoing terror with much focus on a peaceful free and fair election.

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition thus implores the police and other law enforcement agents to adhere to their constitutional duties impartially, desist from violence and to respect the rule of law. The Coalition wants to see a non-partisan police that is there to protect and to not maim innocent civilians.

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