HARARE -- The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) is to undergo wide-ranging reforms that will see, among other things, abandonment of communist-style pass-out parades, the country's co-Home Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa told parliament last week. (Pictured: Giles Mutsekwa - co-Home Affairs Minister)In response to a question from Senator Chapfiwa Mutseyani whether or not it was standard police procedure for recruits to carry President Robert Mugabes banner during pass out parades, Mutsekwa said it was unfortunate that the ZRP had lost its identity and adopted the North Korean tradition during bilateral training programmes in the 1980s.
The uniformed forces in Zimbabwe have a problem in that the uniformed forces of Zimbabwe have gone under training but with the assistance from various nationals, Mutsekwa said.
He added: You will recall that … we have engaged the British through the BIMAT programme, we have engaged Pakistanis in our Air Force training. We have also engaged that North Koreans in training our security forces.
North Koreans also have imparted some knowledge indeed in our police . the North Koreans for instance, regard management of government business in their country as family business and we have hired them to our institutions to impart knowledge to our uniformed forces, we now have problems.
He said the current practice was regrettable adding that it was ideal for the police carry a banner of the constitution to symbolise their allegiance to serve the supreme law of the land.
I regret to say that it should not be the practice (carrying Mugabe’s banner), but however what should be done if the banners were to be used in pass out parades is to have a banner that has clearly the Constitution of Zimbabwe, Mustekwa said.
Mutsekwa said principals to the Global Political Agreement, Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara observed anomalies within the security force and agreed to correct them through training and re-training of members of security forces.
“In that respect, I would also want to inform both the House and the nation that the Global Political Agreement also observed these anomalies and this is why the three principals in their wisdom actually have a paragraph which states that they should go through re-training and training of all our uniformed forces,” he added.
The September 15 2008 power-sharing pact, which gave birth to the inclusive government, states that: There be inclusion in training curriculum of members of the uniformed forces of the subjects of human rights, international humanitarian law and statute law so that there is greater understanding and full appreciation of their roles and duties in a multi-party democratic system.
Article XIII of the GPA also bars police authorities from conducting recruitment policies and practices driven by political inclination or favouritism.
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