ED must cut loose bad police officers

Source: ED must cut loose bad police officers – DailyNews Live

STAFF WRITER      25 September 2018

HARARE – Government’s decision to drive vendors off the streets of the
Central Business Districts (CBDs) across the whole country, especially
after the outbreak of cholera in Harare, has been generally warmly
received by a large cross section of the populace.

Apart from having to curb the spread of cholera, the government had plans to
decongest the cities and these were activated recently to try and bring
order and sanity in the CBD.

However, the genuine attempts to clean up the cities risk being
overshadowed by the conduct of some rogue police officers who, at the
weekend, went on rampage in Harare, indiscriminately assaulting
passers-by.

They also fired tear gas indiscriminately at commuter omnibus ranks before
savagely assaulting revellers at night clubs.

In the process, they reignited the ugly memories of the savage State
brutality that was witnessed on a daily basis during the despotic ruleof
ousted former president Robert Mugabe.

These brutal acts are a flagrant violation of people’s rights and must not
be tolerated in a country whose political leadership has promised to break
with Mugabe’s past.

What is so disconcerting about these unlawful and barbaric acts is the
fact that they fly in the face of public pronouncements of both President
Emmerson Mnangagwa and new police commissioner general Godwin Matanga –
who have preached messages of peace and a new dispensation in the country.

We are compelled to agree with some police insiders who told our sister
publication – the Daily News On Sunday at the weekend – that there were
“clearly some residual elements within the police force who are still
employing old methods which taint the force’s professional image”.

It is becoming clear that both Mnangagwa and Matanga need to  further get
rid of rogue elements within the police force to achieve the much-needed
change consistent with a new dispensation.

The behaviour of these rogue police officers serves to undermine
Mnangagwa’s and Matanga’s efforts to make the Second Republic an
acceptable place for all to live.

Isn’t it jarring that at a time Mnangagwa has sworn-in a Commission of
Inquiry to investigate the violence and army shootings of August 1, we
have police officers savaging people on the streets without any slightest
form of provocation?

What is the motive for this when the country’s leadership is trying to get
rid of the “bad boy” tag that has stalked Zimbabwe for several decades?

The ongoing brutal acts by police are undermining Mnangagwa’s government
and there is need to cut loose residual elements that remain in the force.