"The ZRP (Zimbabwe Republic Police) continues to enforce the law in a
partisan manner, and the culture of impunity for police who are
perpetrators of human rights violations remains intact," the Civil
Society Monitoring Mechanism (CISOMM) said in a report released on
Wednesday.
"There were documented accounts of police involvement
(from the command level to individual police officers) in the
continuing assault on the farms.
Police have failed to investigate,
arrest, and prosecute known and/or identifiable perpetrators of
politically-motivated retributive violence described previously,"
CISOMM added.
The civil society group said there is need to allow
experts from civil society to revise police training curriculum so as
to inculcate in the officers an awareness of human rights issues.
"Demands
remain for the training curriculum for uniformed forces to be urgently
revised with inclusion of experts from civil society for the process or
re-orienting members to commence."
Recruitment, training and discipline of police officers continue to lack transparency and accountability, CISOMM said.
"Of
particular concern is the use of weapons of war during the course of
ordinary policing. The immediate cessation of routinely arming the
police with automatic weapons by the police is of paramount importance,
and a consequent return to civilian policing."
The 11-page report
also said there has been no transformation on the executive arm of
government, adding that there has been no sign of a change in mindset
in relation to the streamlining of government in line with available
resources for its proper and continued functioning and accountability
to taxpayers and other funding partners.
The contestation over the appointment of AG Johannes Tomana continues to remain unresolved, the report said.
"Both
the office of the AG, and the AG himself, have consistently failed to
demonstrate independence, impartiality and non-partisanship," said
CISOMM,
adding: "There are documented cases of interference by the
office of the AG in the role and function of the police and the
judiciary (particularly the Magistrates’ Courts) in relation to the
ongoing farm invasions and violence which has ensued thereon.
"The role of this office in inciting defiance of the ruling of the SADC Tribunal on spurious legal grounds was also noted."
Mugabe
and then opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara
formed an inclusive government on February 13 under a power-sharing
agreement brokered by the SADC.
Mugabe remains an executive
President while Tsvangirai also enjoys some executive powers as Prime
Minister and Mutambara who leads a faction of the MDC is Deputy Premier.
The
unity government deal that was clinched after several months of tense
and sometimes acrimonious negotiations says that Tsvangirai will be in
charge of the day-to-day running of government business. But the former
trade unionist is required to keep Mugabe, who still chairs the
Cabinet, "fully informed".
ZimOnline
Post published in: Politics