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Parliamentary Roundup Bulletin No. 7 - 2011
Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust
March 03, 2011
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Introduction
Both Houses
are not sitting this week as they adjourned
last week to 8 March 2011. However, committees continued meeting.
Below are some highlights of committee meetings held this week.
Defence
and Home Affairs
The much-awaited
meeting between the Committees of Defence and Home Affairs, and
Peace and Security, and the Commissioner-General of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police (ZRP), Augustine Chihuri, finally took place today,
Thursday 3 March 2011. Commissioner Chihuri appeared before the
two Committees in the company of Melusi Matshiya, the Permanent
Secretary for the Ministry of Home Affairs. Commissioner-General
Chihuri blamed political parties (ZANU PF and MDC-T) for fanning
violence in the country and dismissed allegations that the police
were biased in handling cases of politically motivated violence.
He said the police responded to violence without fear or favour.
He gave the following statistics of political violence in the country
from January 2011 to date:
| Province |
No.
of reported cases of violence |
No.
of Zanu PF activists arrested |
No.
of MDC-T activists arrested |
| Harare |
19 |
8 |
42 |
| Mash West |
2 |
0 |
12 |
| Bulawayo |
4 |
0 |
3 |
| Manicaland |
3 |
10 |
20 |
| Midlands |
3 |
0 |
10 |
| Mash Central |
4 |
2 |
3 |
| Mat North |
1 |
0 |
4 |
| Mash East |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Masvingo |
3 |
0 |
7 |
He seemed to
apportion more blame to the MDC-T for political violence in the
country as he said police records showed that high ranking MDC-T
officials such as Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe, the Co-Minister
of Home Affairs Theresa Makone, Hon. Douglas Mwonzora and Hon. Tongai
Matutu, among others, had been involved in acts of violence before.
The ZRP Commissioner-General
told the Committee that cases of politically motivated violence
normally surge whenever there was talk of elections, EU meetings
to extend sanctions and events where the President was the guest
of honour. When asked how an EU meeting being held in Europe could
precipitate violence in the country, he said it was abundantly clear
that a certain political party was instigating violence to influence
the decision of EU to extend sanctions in the country.
Chihuri was
noncommittal on statistics of people who had been arrested for political
violence that engulfed the country in June
2008 elections. Instead, he referred the Committee to the Organ
on National Healing and Integration.
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