Chihuri blocks PMs visits to cops fears growing support for MDC

Highly placed sources in the Zimbabwe Republic Police said at the weekend that Tsvangirai wanted to visit police posts to meet officers. He planned to assess their work conditions and hear their concerns. But his visit was blocked by Chihuri.

During his proposed visit, Tsvangirai also intended making a firsthand assessment of police cells whose conditions have been roundly condemned by human rights activists.

The Prime Minister was supposed to visit Harare Central Police Station and several other stations around the country in December but the visit was blocked by Chihuri. We understand he is afraid that the Prime Minister was going to use his visit to cement the already growing support that he enjoys among members of the force, said highly placed sources at Harare Central Police station.

A radio signal was sent in December instructing police officers to prepare for the visit of the Prime Minister. But while officers were busy preparing for his coming, another message was sent to all stations instructing everyone not to entertain the Prime Minister, or anyone representing him. That was the last we heard of his visit.

The sources said they would have wanted the Prime Minister to visit so that he could see for himself the rot at many police stations in the country.

The cells at Harare Central Police Station are uninhabitable, with prisoners crowded in the cells and diseases flourishing. In October last year, senior policemen also blocked visits to police stations by the MDC co-minister of home affairs, Giles Mutsekwa, saying that they were busy.

Chihuri is a hardline Zanu (PF) supporter whose term of office has been continuously renewed by President Robert Mugabe. Together with other security chiefs, before the March 2008 harmonised elections, he vowed not to salute Tsvangirai if he was to become president of the country.

In 2007 on March 11, Chihuri sanctioned the assault of Tsvangirai and many other civic leaders during the aborted prayer meeting at Zimbabwe grounds. Tsvangirai was beaten all over his body until he passed out.

Just recently Chihuri refused to facilitate a civil service audit programme from accessing police files. It is believed that the police force has on its payroll thousands of war veterans who are neither police officers nor police constabularies, in addition to an unknown number of ghost workers who have left the force.