adminTrevor Shiri Correspondent
There has been sickening condemnation of the move by Government to retrain the police in modern methods of crowd control and the equipping of same with appropriate non-lethal weapons, as well as protective anti-riot gear.
In the warped thinking of the opposition, Government is preparing to unleash untold terror on citizens. This is the false narrative that is being pushed by a motley host of opposition mouthpieces in the private media, social media, and yes, even in Parliament. According to them, Government is on a warpath against citizens. Nothing can be further from the truth.
A bit of context
The MDC-Alliance orchestrated and spearheaded the violent August 1, 2018 demonstrations, which regrettably resulted in the deaths of six people, while 35 were injured. In the spirit of openness and accountability, President Mnangagwa appointed what is now known as the Motlanthe Commission led by former South African president, Kgalema Motlanthe, to look into the disturbances.
The Commission made numerous recommendations both to the MDC-Alliance and Government.
There is no need to enumerate the many findings and recommendations of the commission, which are not relevant to this article, and in any case are a matter of public record. Nonetheless the relevant recommendation pertains to law enforcement in riotous situations.
The report in its founding summary acknowledged that, “the evidence showed that the Government deployed the military in accordance with the Constitution and the applicable law. The Commission also considered that whilst the deployment of the military was lawful, the operational framework in terms of Section 37 (2) of the Public Order and Security Act (Chapter 11:07) was not fully complied with in that the deployed troops were not placed under the command of the Harare Regulating Authority (in this case the Police).”
As a corrective measure, one of the key recommendations contained in the summary was, “the enforcement of law and order in order to ensure that the events of the 1st of August 2018 are not repeated.”
In the larger report in Section 7.4 titled, “Enforcement of Law and Order,” the Commission in 7.4a recommended that, “Parliament should give consideration to aligning POSA with the provisions of the Constitution on the deployment of the military internally.”
Further, on 7.4a, the Commission specifically recommended that, “in the interests of national cohesion and the protection of all citizens, the Police should be further trained to be professional and non-partisan.”
Government in good faith and in the spirit of fulfilling the Motlanthe Commission report has initiated the re-alignment of POSA through the Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill which is undergoing the normal checks and balances processes before enactment.
Further, the police has embarked on a deliberate retraining exercise of the force in compliance with the Motlanthe Commission Report. The retraining includes courses on crime management, management of discipline, corruption, customer care, briefing and debriefing, public order management, cyber-crime and intellectual crime, community policing, among others.
Pursuant to assisting Zimbabwe to fulfil its obligations with regard to these specific recommendations, South Africa pledged R55 million during the Zimbabwe-South Africa Bi-National Commission in March 2019 to fund the foregoing exercise.
Surprising deceit
It was surprising to hear that MDC-Alliance Mbizo legislator, Settlement Chikwinya, playing to the gallery in Parliament asking why Government was prioritising the equipping of the police through new riot gear at a time when there were more pressing social issues.
Head of Government Business in Parliament, who is also Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi, cheekily responded that the equipment was budgeted for and approved by the same legislator, who was now asking the question. Notwithstanding the foregoing response from Minister Ziyambi, our South African counterparts have availed funding for the same programme on top of what was budgeted for and approved by Parliament, where the MDC-Alliance has representation.
It is apparent that the MDC-Alliance and its adjuncts unnecessarily politicise everything and anything, mischievously choosing to decontextualise the retraining and reequipping of Zimbabwe’s police to professionalise it to deal with all manner of criminality and civil disobedience.
This is a plus for Government. Instead of lauding Government for expeditiously complying with the Motlanthe Commission recommendations, the MDC-Alliance, together with its social media trolls have gone on overdrive to condemn Government. What crass hypocrisy! Sickening double standards!
These are the same opposition mouthpieces that criticised police conduct during the August 1, 2018 and 13 to 14 January 2019 disturbances, claiming that they used brute force unbecoming of a police force. Never mind the truthfulness of the criticism, Government has complied with both the Motlanthe Commission report and the cries from the opposition, but inexplicably, they are quick to criticise the expeditious response by the New Dispensation.
They pretend not to see that President Mnangagwa is indeed a listening President.
In February, the European Union in a statement, which was the basis of the renewal of the illegal sanctions regime against Harare iterated its “unanimous desire for Zimbabwe to become peaceful, democratic and prosperous nation in which all citizens are treated well and equally under the law and where the organs of the State act on behalf of the citizens and not against them.”
Further the EU underscored that it, “strongly condemns the violence that occurred during the recent protests (January) in Zimbabwe . . .”
The current re-equipping and retraining of Zimbabwe’s police is precisely in response to all these recommendations. For those not in the know, Zimbabwe’s Security Services do not respond with force to peaceful protests.
The MDC-Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa held two peaceful demonstrations in 2019, under the protection of a police escort. That is democracy at work. That is constitutionalism in motion.
However, the August and January cases were violent demonstrations, which the State apparatus had to respond in kind to protect other citizens’ rights such as protection from violent elements, freedom of movement, freedom of conscience and protection of property.
It must be noted and emphasised that concerns by the Motlanthe Commission, and even the EU, are not on whether or not the Security Services should use minimum force to thwart riotous situations, but on the need to professionalise the manner in which they neutralise rowdy and violent demonstrators. This is precisely what Government is doing with the help of our South African counterparts to ensure that law and order is maintained in Zimbabwe.
Plans are already afoot to rebrand the Zimbabwe Republic Police to the Zimbabwe Police Service. This is not merely a change in name, but is being preceded by a change in deed. It is thus the collective responsibility of Zimbabweans to applaud the positive strides being made by Government to re-train and equip the police with appropriate non-lethal gear to quell riotous situations with minimum human collateral. Kudos to the New Dispensation.
Online Reporter