Chihuri’s actions anger Tsvangirai

Speaking during the commemorations for Tonderai Ndira, Better Chokururama, Cain Nyevhe and Godfrey Kauzani, Tsvangirai said history would judge the police force harshly if it continued with its selective application of the law.

“We are angry because our parents, our brothers, our husbands and our wives were killed in State-sponsored violence, which is a cruel irony because it is the duty of the State to protect citizens and not harm them. We are angry because the Commissioner-General, Augustine Chihuri, has chosen to engage in selective application of the law and to personalise what should otherwise be a State-institution,” said Tsvangirai To date not a single person from Zanu PF has been charged with violence or imprisoned. According to Tsvangirai such a skewed reflection of events has seen people’s faith in the police force wane.

Relatives of the likes of Ndira have, like many other Zimbabweans, waited for justice but that has proved to be an unsustainable pipe dream. “We urge Commissioner Chihuri to arrest all perpetrators of violence without fear or favour and without the needless selective application of the law. In the absence of arrests and prosecution, history will record that the police force in this country folded its arms and closed its eyes while the merchants of violence killed and brutalised innocent civilians,” said Tsvangirai.

Failure by the police to make arrests has watered the culture of impunity – resulting in a new wave of violence by suspected Zanu PF supporters. The MDC accuses the police of siding with Zanu PF and failing to arrests perpetrators of violence.

“We are angry because once again, we are seeing the resurgence of the same culture of impunity and State-sponsored violence and I know we are all saying: “Not again.”

However, despite the gloom Tsvangirai expressed hope in the bold move that SADC has assumed in relationship to Zimbabwe.

“We are…..heartened that our brothers in SADC have now realised that violence as orchestrated by partisan state institutions is the single major threat to democracy in Zimbabwe and stability in the whole region,” he said.