Policemens hell before run-off

The junior officers, most of whom said that they had waited with bated breath for the end of President Robert Mugabes rule, told ***The Zimbabwean that they were subjected to untold suffering by their superiors, who kept accusing them of supporting the enemy. Tsvangirai and his mainstream MDC had just defeated both Zanu (PF) and Mugabe in the earlier round of the plebiscite, held on March 29, but Mugabe responded with a campaign of retribution against the electorate.

The officers, who spoke to ***The Zimbabwean in Johannesburg this week, told of suppression of their liberty of movement, intimidation with both dismissal from work and being subjected to firing squads if they refused to rig elections. They also described the strict internal surveillance they were under by the notorious Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI).

Restrictive orders from above

They received officials orders banning them from leaving the police camps or hosting visitors at their homes inside the camps. ***The Zimbabwean is in possession of copies of these orders that bear the stamp of the provincial police commissioner for the Midlands Every time we had station lectures, there would be accusations of us working for the demise of Zanu (PF), said a former junior officer who deserted his job a few days before the run-off vote. The meetings were labelled Police Projects Workshops in the written orders that the officers received. This was a bid to cover up the political lectures in case the orders fell into the wrong hands.

Threats always followed and names would be read of junior officers from the rank of Assistant Inspector and below, who would be accused of supporting the MDC and threatened with immediate dismissal. The officers said that the Police Projects Workshops, which were supposed to be meant for the members themselves, if they had been genuine, were mandatory for them, their spouses and all dependants.

Dependents threatened

The dependants were told that they would all first have to vote through postal ballots in stations first, before going to their polling stations, where they were also threatened with death of their husbands if they voted MDC, added another member. One of the orders that ***The Zimbabwean is in possession of is dated June 3, 2008 24 days before the scheduled polling day, and was written by the then Officer Commanding Kwekwe district Chief Superintendent Ruth Madya to all stations in the district.

All details who applied for postal ballots must be on standby as the ballot papers may arrive any time and voting may be at short notice, read part of the signal, whose reference number is RM227/2008. OICs (officers in charge of stations) are advised to inform their NWC (Neighbourhood Watch Committee) members to make themselves available when required. All details leaving the station must book in the charge office diary and make their whereabouts known. Despite them being civilian volunteers, members of the NWC were forced to vote through postal ballots at police stations first, before being released to their polling stations, according to the officers.