Clamp down on Zanu PF thugs before it’s too late

The resurgence of politically-motivated violence in the past few weeks is uncalled for and what is needed now are level heads before the situation spirals out of control.

Source: Clamp down on Zanu PF thugs before it’s too late – NewsDay Zimbabwe September 28, 2016

Comment: NewsDay Editors

No matter how it is spun for political and propaganda purposes, the sight of people with gory wounds on their faces and macabre injuries on their backsides is shocking and an intervention is needed now.

It is a pity President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF were never committed to the peace and reconciliation organ and are not too happy with the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, but what this means is that perpetrators of violence will continue doing so with impunity because the organisations meant to thwart this are incapacitated.

Just what do the police and Zanu PF thugs — we call them thugs because that is just what they are — hope to achieve by assaulting people?

Politics is all about convincing people in a civil manner to see things from your viewpoint, rather than bludgeoning them into submission.

There is no reason for the police, whether following orders or in drunken stupors, to viciously assault people in their custody.

We hope that all the officers accused of perpetrating the dastardly torture on MDC-T activists are brought to book and made to pay for their waywardness in the courts of law.

Now more than ever before, there is need for an impartial police force, before a spirit of vigilantism sets in.

It was heartrending to hear victims of Zanu PF brutality narrate their torture, including a tale where a former student leader was allegedly forced to sleep with an older woman and we can only wonder what inspires people to act in such a cruel and inhuman manner.

The police should also investigate the alleged presence of torture chambers at the Zanu PF headquarters, where the MDC-T activists allege they were taken to.

Failure of which, the Zanu PF thugs would have all, but received carte blanche to act as they please, knowing they are out of reach of the law.

Zimbabwe should not be allowed to descend into anarchy, as the wounds of 2008 are still fresh, the scars of Operation Murambatsvina are not healed, while Gukurahundi will always remain etched in the minds of Zimbabweans.

The only way the country can avoid a repeat of these dark periods in its history is by ensuring that the rule of law is upheld, extra-judicial punishment is outlawed and, above all, the creation of a professional police force.

Failure to which, Zimbabwe is being dragged into a political black hole by a seemingly uncaring government, which puts its survival above everything else, including the country’s future.