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target the MDC-T party supporters only, a senior police officer has said.
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said this while quashing MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai’s claims that police were partisan and were targeting his members.
Addressing a handful of supporters attending a memorial service of MDC-T members at Rutenga Stadium in Zaka on Saturday, Mr Tsvangirai said the role of the police was being compromised.
He accused the police of arresting members of his party for political violence.
Mr Tsvangirai said MDC-T members were victims of political violence unleashed on them by Zanu-PF.
However, police national spokesperson Asst Comm Charamba dismissed the claims saying the force was impartial in discharging its duties.
“We do not discriminate on the basis of who you are. If you commit a crime you should expect the police to arrest you. We have a zero tolerance to crime and our Commissioner General (Augustine Chihuri) has reaffirmed that,” said Asst Comm Charamba.
Mr Tsvangirai said the police was not arresting Zanu-PF members who were assaulting and killing MDC-T members.
“People were burnt by Zanu-PF members and some were assaulted and their assailants are known but they are moving freely. They are actually boasting for committing a crime. Are the police still in existence? What is the role of the police?
“The law only applies when an MDC member is accused of committing a crime. There are 29 young people who are rotting in prison and their crime is that they are MDC. Why should we have selective application of the law when we are saying we are one?”
But Asst Comm Charamba said: “That complaint is invalid. Police and the courts are two different things.”
The memorial service failed to attract many people and proceedings only started around 3pm.
Mr Tsvangirai was accompanied by his wife Ms Elizabeth Macheka who was introduced by the party’s organising secretary Mr Nelson Chamisa as the “mother of the party”.
Ms Macheka chanted the MDC-T slogan before thanking the party supporters for attending the memorial service.
leeroy