‘No sacred cows in politically motivated violence cases’
THE Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has said it will deal with all cases of politically motivated violence regardless of perpetrators’ political affiliation.
Speaking at an event organised by the Zimbabwe Peace Project titled “Dialogue with Political Parties — Making blocks for Peace Work: Zimbabwe Elections 2018”, police commander for the 2018 harmonised elections committee Senior Assistant Commissioner Erasmus Makodza said no one was immune to prosecution.
“For these harmonised elections, the ZRP will make sure that it is not going to spare anyone who is going to be involved in political violence,” he said.
“Yes, I have heard you talking about the past. The past is past.
“We received some phone calls simply because some people thought they were immune to arrest and they started calling my office.
“They would say: ‘Your officers are here, they are arresting me’ and I said what have you done? ‘They are alleging that I have assaulted so and so’. I said to that political candidate give that police officer your cellphone. When the police officer came on the phone I instructed him to arrest him.”
Snr Asst Comm Makodza said that was the stance adopted by the force and it was not going back on it.
“We are not making threats,” he said. “I think those of you following the statistics know that we have arrested everyone involved in political violence regardless of their political affiliation.”
Snr Asst Comm Makodza challenged citizens with outstanding cases to bring them forward, saying the police, “had enough handcuffs”.
He said he had personally engaged the national director of public prosecutions and requested him to appoint seasoned senior prosecutors, saying on their part, police had appointed seasoned and experienced detectives to be involved in the investigations of the cases.
“I also made an appeal to the chief magistrate to ensure that we get seasoned and experienced magistrates to handle these cases,” he said.
“The Judiciary has set up special