Conducted in the wake of the ongoing onslaught against Civil Society Organisations and Human Rights Defenders, the research found out political interference in the operations of the country’s law-enforcement agents and the judiciary.
“The public (majority Zimbabweans) holds the view that the Zimbabwean police is being abused by politicians for their political personal benefit and the onslaught against CSOs and HRDs has nothing to do with criminality within the CSO sector, but is hugely political and a well-calculated strategy to weaken CSOs and HRDs to benefit ZANU PF politicians,” said ACT-Southern Africa.
“The veracity of the perception is cemented by the fact that the Commissioner General, Augustine Chihuri has publicly declared allegiance to ZANU PF. Similarly, the Attorney General, Johannes Tomana, to whom suspects are referred for criminal prosecution by the ZRP has also publicly shown allegiance to ZANU PF. The most surprising revelation is that since a decade ago, thousands of HRDs who were arrested per annum were never convicted, which casts a shadow of doubt on the motive behind the arrests.”
ACT-Southern Africa said it and other stakeholders could provide numerous cases to cement the findings, should there be any doubt.
ACT-Southern Africa’s Regional Director, Alouis Munyaradzi Chaumba, decried the hijacking of the Zimbabwean police to serve the personal interests of ZANU PF politicians, which it said amounted to corruption.
“A network of public institutions that have been hijacked to benefit ZANU PF politicians is huge,” said Chaumba.
“The confessions made by Police Commissioner General, Augustine Chihuri and the Attorney General, Johannes Tomana, that they are ZANUPF supporters, are unfortunate and warranted immediate dismissal of the two officials. I concur with the survey results that a corrupt relationship exists between the police and ZANU PF.”
The survey further confirmed that the Government of National Unity, through the Presidency, the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Justice had not been helpful in addressing the ongoing onslaught against Zimbabwean CSOs, while the performance of the Judiciary was rated as ‘satisfactory’.
The report is a product of a public survey that was carried out by the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-Southern Africa) in order to understand the motive behind police action against Zimbabwean CSOs and Human Rights Defenders.
Post published in: News
It is too true. Zimbabwe Republic Police has now turned out to be ZANU PF Republic Police