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| Zimbabwe Republic Police |
Misheck Shambare
Opinion
The spate of
violence, which has been orchestrated by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), recently
shows the country is still far from honoring human rights despite the new
constitution.
Police has come under
fire from Human Rights Organisations and members of the public for their continued
use of violence and violation of human rights by arbitrarily beating people.
This comes after
the police in Harare seriously injured the Occupy Africa Unity square activist
Itai Dzamara and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) lawyer Kennedy
Masiye.
Masiye was
assaulted at Africa Unity Square in central Harare whilst attempting to
represent his clients, Itai Dzamara and other protesters, who were being
subjected to assault by the same police officers whilst staging a peaceful
sit-in.
Despite showing
all his credentials and identification as a lawyer the ZRP continued to beat
him and At the Harare Central Police Station they continued to detain him
knowing that he was a lawyer.
The Police in
Marondera also fatally assaulted a kombi driver, who died on the spot and they
went on armed with teargases and indiscriminately beat up people who were
marching denouncing the death of Kombi driver and injuring a four-year-old boy.
Human rights
should be embodied with accountability and respect for the rule of law and the
constitution.
Itai Dzamara, and
his "group" were simply exercising their rights according to Section
(59), of the constitution their Right to Demonstrate & Petition.
As long as their
demonstrations were done peacefully, then that is what millions of Zimbabweans
went to vote for when they voted “YES” in the new constitution.
ZRP did no have
the right to detain, harass and chase them around. The nation states and other
duty-bearers have to comply with the legal norms & standards enshrined in
human rights legislation.
However somebody
needs to remind the ZRP that Zimbabweans were shown the draft constitution,
that It was not a document made by President Mugabe, or MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai
or any other politician, but millions of Zimbabweans had a say in its drafting.
By voting
"Yes" to the constitution everyone expects to be protected by it and
it does not mean when one is in ZRP uniform it does not levitates them above
the law.
The level of
violence displayed by Zimbabwean police is an illustration of a police force
used to protect individual interests in the political landscape.
Although, ZRP
may decline to be partisan but judging from their actions it can be easily
established which political party they support.
The police are no longer doing its mandate duty, which is to
protect citizens it is now more of a 'political' police
They is also
lack of professionalism in carrying out their mandated duties which can be
attributed to the time of training which is even lesser compared to other
countries.
Training is all
about indoctrination, guidance and compliance even to orders they personally
deem unfit.
Minister
of Tourism and Hospitality Walter Mzembi is in London busy trying to convince
prospective tourists that all is well in Zimbabwe, while the ZRP continues to
make headlines in the media for wrong reason that will continue to soil the
country image.
