Cops forced to register

Since last month, officers have visited households threatening to evict from the camp those who do not register to vote. National spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba dismissed the allegations as false.

“I have not yet heard about the allegations since l cannot be everywhere every time. I will investigate but these could be allegations peddled by people who might want to cause public disorder,” Charamba said.

However, Chikurubi residents told The Zimbabwean that they have been threatened with eviction if they failed to produce evidence that they had registered as voters.

“Police officers visited my house and inquired about the number of people residing here. They then demanded national identity numbers for all the people l stay with,” said one of residents, married to a police officer, who refused to be named.

Residents said they had no choice but to register in order to avoid eviction and disciplinary action against their police and prison service breadwinners.

“Junior officers are being sent to get evidence that we have registered as voters. Those who have not registered are subjected to thorough questioning and given deadlines to go and register. This has been happening to police and prison officers residing here at Chikurubi and I am sure, by now, most people here are on the voters’ roll. There is nothing wrong with encouraging people to register. What is bad is to force or threaten them,” said another resident.

He indicated that the trend was the same at other major police camps across the country. “These chefs (top police officers) are afraid that if there is voter apathy in the camp, they will be accused of undermining Zanu (PF). So they want to ensure that as many police officers as possible register and hopefully vote for the party in the elections,” he added.

Since January uniformed forces have been registering to vote at various centres throughout the country, reportedly under the command of their superiors. Police recruits have been shepherded to registration centres by their superiors – as civilians are being turned away from registering, or waiting in long queues, sometimes for days on end.

Both wings of the MDC have repeatedly accused the uniformed forces of siding with President Robert Mugabe and Zanu (PF). The police are unashamed in their partisan application of the law (see editorial comment P 10) and senior military personnel, including Police Commissioner Augustine Chihiru, have publicly declared their support for Mugabe and threatened a coup if the veteran leader loses the election.

Chihuri has also threatened police officers and their wives against voting for political parties other than Zanu (PF). Observers say there is no evidence that the rank and file in the police, the army or other security arms support Zanu (PF).

They however warn that police bosses, most of whom are veterans of the 1970s war of liberation and are beholden to Zanu (PF) for the prime land they were given during the fast track land redistribution programme, in addition to other perks, could force juniors to vote under their supervision and therefore influence voting patterns.