A letter from the dias****a
http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/outside290808.htm
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
Dear Friends,
I have long believed that a politically compromised police force is one of
the root causes of the collapse of law and order in Zimbabwe. Without
impartial policing and an independent judiciary the citizen has nowhere to
turn for protection. From 2000 onwards we have seen that the so-called
forces of law and order are tilted in one direction only and that is to
uphold the political imperatives of the ruling party. The white farmers
were
the first victims; as their properties were violently invaded and they
were
driven from their homes, the police refused to intervene on the grounds
that
it was 'political' and they could do nothing. Even when there were violent
physical assaults and murder, the police failed to act and, in many cases
actively sup****ted the farm invaders. As Mugabe's political fortunes began
to wane he resorted more and more to racist rhetoric, "Our party must
continue to strike fear in the heart of the white man, our real enemy," he
said at the time
I was living in Murehwa when the first white farmer, David Stevens, was
murdered and five of his fellow farmers brutally assaulted as they
attempted
to rescue their friend. It was April 2000 ( See Cathy Buckle's Beyond
Tears
for an account; she calls it 'The weekend from Hell') The news of that
murder went all round the world; indeed I heard of it first on the World
Service of the BBC. Robert Mugabe, of course, was quick to respond with
his
now familiar accusation of western racism. One white man is killed and the
western media goes into a frenzy he claimed. On the ground in Murehwa we
all
knew that it was the police who had handed the white farmers over to the
war
veterans. We knew the names of the killers and as the days went by after
the
incident we saw those very men walking freely about the town****p. They had
acted with complete impunity knowing that no policemen would dare to lay a
finger on them. That was where it all began, the politicisation of the
Zimbabwe Republic Police, a body of men and women who had once been a
highly
trained and disciplined force, trusted by the people as the guardians of
law
and order. Now, eight years later, the ZRP has become no better than an
arm
of the ruling party. Once called 'the dogs of Ian Smith' they serve a
different master now but one no less ruthless and they carry out his
bidding
with complete disregard for human rights or considerations of justice and
the law. This week we had another example of police complicity when they
stormed a perfectly lawful AGM of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition at a
hotel in the middle of Harare and with a truck full of armed cops
disbanded
the meeting on the grounds that it was an illegal gathering. Earlier in
the
week the police had arrested five democratically elected MDC MPs as they
were about to enter the parliament building to attend the opening of the
new
session. In a blatant attempt to prevent MDC members from voting for a new
Speaker of the House, the police had once again proved their total
partiality to Zanu PF. The democratic will of the people means nothing to
them, the MOU means nothing to them, they continue their blind
allegiance to
Robert Mugabe and his party of thugs and thieves while the country slides
further and further into the abyss. With police and judges corrupted by
Mugabe's patronage and croneyism, law and order collapses. Traditional
chiefs, once the upholders of customary law in the rural areas have been
subverted too and there is nowhere to turn for justice. Rural or urban,
black or white, it makes no difference if you are opposed to Mugabe and
Zanu
PF you are 'the enemy within' and the police will deal with you
accordingly.
Ironic then that when Kirsty Coventry returned to Zimbabwe with her gold
and
silver medals this week she was treated as a heroine despite the colour of
her skin. There was a victory parade through the streets of Harare and a
banquet in her honour. Mugabe congratulated her 'most heartily on that
heroic performance' Hypocrisy or just political expediency on the Old
Man's
part? The truth is that he is using Coventry's victory because he thinks
it
reflects well on him and his government; he fails to acknowledge that
Coventry went to the hated US to train for her medals so utterly desperate
are conditions in her own country.
Accompanied no doubt by a police escort the white Olympian is honoured and
feted by a man who will do anything to prove that the country is
prospering
under his leader****p despite the fact that he said only this week after
the
State Opening of Parliament that his cabinet was to be restructured
because,
in his own words, "This cabinet I had was the worst in history - most of
the
ministers were unreliable - incompetent and spent time attending to their
own businesses. Many abused their power to deny people food." (Rich,
coming
from the man who has banned NGO's distributing food aid!) Perhaps he has
forgotten that he appointed the cabinet in the first place - the same
way he
extended Police Commissioner Chihuri's term of office three times thus
ensuring a sickeningly compliant police force whose only concern appears
to
be propping up Mugabe's rotten regime while the real criminals stalk the
corridors of power. Will they ever be brought to justice?
Yours in the (continuing) struggle. PH aka Pauline Henson author of
Countdown a political detective story set in Zimbabwe and available on
lulu.com
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