Make us proud, Doré tells cops

Dale Doré, the Harare East candidate for Transform Zimbabwe, has called on the police force to make the people of Zimbabwe proud of them.

“We truly believe that the vast majority of members of our police force – and indeed, all the security forces – are equally desirous of a transformation of our society. Transform Zimbabwe calls upon them – collectively and individually – to do the right and honourable thing: to ensure that every Zimbabweans can live without fear, and in peace, dignity and freedom,” he said in a statement released today.

“I was at the Mabvuku Police Station when the police unjustly arrested a member of my campaign team, Barnabas Julius. Barnabas had been putting up Transform Zimbabwe posters in Tafara (part of my constituency), when ZANU(PF) youths forcibly removed and stole our banner. Barnabas and his friend reported the incident to the police in Mabvuku and specifically identified the main culprits by name.

“Knowing that their actions were completely illegal under our Electoral Act, Zanu(PF) concocted a story. Fully expecting a sympathetic hearing from a partisan police, they inverted what really happened, accusing Barnabas of the violence. The police are all too familiar with this tactic, and all too willing to oblige. They arrested Barnabas. When both I and my election agent remonstrated with the police to release Barnabas – they laughed. Go and read and learn the law, they mocked.

“The following day, my courageous and tenacious election agent, David Rhodi, visited the District Police Officer. He asked why the actual culprits were still at large and had not been arrested for their electoral crime. Well, the answer came from the Officer in Charge, Inspector Ndlovu. He was waiting, he said, for instruction from Deputy Assistant Commissioner Makedenge! Here we find senior officers of the police failing to do their Constitutional duty to investigate and prosecute those who break the law. No wonder the junior officers were chuckling.

“Who, we ask, are the political masters of Makedenge, who treat any crime by Zanu (PF) as ‘political’ and, hence, not to be investigated? Today, in a time of re-engagement, their behaviour is totally unacceptable to the people of Zimbabwe and the international community. Allowing this kind of impunity can lead to incidents where citizens, such as the inimitable Itai Dzamara, can disappear without a trace. Transform Zimbabwe is dedicated to maintaining pressure on all state institutions to act impartially and professionally in the conduct of their constitutionally mandated duties,” says the statement.

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