It is the fact that Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri and his officers actually believe that anyone in their right senses would ever regard them as anything but the incompetent sham that they are.
Madanhire and Nyangove are accused of defaming the police in a story on the arrest of MDC official Jameson Timba, in which they described Chief Superintendent Crispen Makedenge as the “notorious Makedenge”. The story also mentioned that the police officer had been accused in the past of "abducting and torturing" human rights campaigners. What cheek!
Chihuri and his officers abdicated their constitutional role as a national law enforcement agency many moons ago, choosing instead to become just one more tool at the disposal of President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party in their bizarre mission to rule Zimbabwe forever.
For the past decade the police have stood idly by, and in some cases even cheered on, as so-called war veterans and other hired goons ransacked commercial farms, and raped, tortured and murdered Zanu (PF)’s political opponents.
They turned on the victims of political violence and abuse, arresting women for daring to report that they had been raped at Zanu (PF) torture camps – all the while letting their attackers go scot-free. Now they turn around and tell us that their good reputation has been tarnished. It surely must be very strong whatever it is that Chihuri and his officers smoke.
And while we are at it, what is so defamatory about calling Makedenge notorious? This is the same Makedenge whose name has featured prominently each time journalists or human rights activists are harassed or arrested by state security agents. This is the same man whose name was linked with the abduction and torture of Jestina Mukoko in 2008.
Again, how exactly do the police hope to enhance this good reputation of theirs by raiding newsrooms and arresting editors and their reporters each time a story is published that is not to their liking?
True, the police – like all other security forces – might be no more than an extension of Zanu (PF). But, even then, we would have expected Chihuri and his officers to show a little more intelligence than those dangerous Zanu zealots otherwise known as the Border Gezi youths or Green Bombers.
The need for comprehensive security sector reforms could not be more urgent than now!
Post published in: Editor: Wilf Mbanga