Elsewhere in this newspaper we carry a story from a former policeman who was forced to desert last year as a result of political interference and ill-treatment at the hands of senior police officers. We understand this kind of abuse was country-wide, particularly during the run-up to the 2008 elections. We have seen irrefutable evidence, in the form of a video, of young recruits being assaulted by their instructors at a police training depot. We now have in our possession copies of a number of official police signals sent in 2008 from the Midlands Provincial Commissioner to various police stations in the province, instructing policemen and their families to attend what is euphemistically referred to as police special projects in reality Zanu (PF) political indoctrination sessions.
At these meetings, the policemen were instructed to vote for Zanu (PF) and to denounce the MDC at every opportunity. A number of the policemen were accused of sympathising with or belonging to the MDC and publicly denounced.
This is a gross abuse of the right of the policemen and their families to choose for themselves which party they want to vote for.
Policemen were also officially banned from leaving the camps and from hosting friends and relatives at their homes inside various police camps, a serious infringement of their rights to freedom of movement and association.
This expose reveals the thorough politicisation of the police force and other armed forces as it was not confined only to the police. Such abuse has no place in a modern democracy and we appeal to the three principals of the GPA to include this on their agenda and ensure that steps are taken now to avoid a repetition of this at the next general election.
One of the most difficult, yet imperative, tasks facing the mis-named Government of National Unity, and indeed any post-Zanu (PF) administration is undoubtedly the de-politicisation of the armed forces. To return the ZNA and the ZRP to their pre-1995 levels of professionalism will be a monumental task. A start must be made now.
The un-trainable Zanu (PF) die-hards, who now monopolise all senior ranks, will simply have to be retired. Most of them are no longer engaged in proper police work anyway as they are busy invading farms, terrorising members of the MDC or enjoying their ill-gotten wealth. In effect they are now Zanu (PF) political commissars not policemen at all. And they should not be drawing civil servants salaries paid for by the taxpayer.
Post published in: Editor: Wilf Mbanga