THE Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), long known for its alleged corrupt tendencies and heavy-handedness in quelling civil dissent, hit a new low on Friday after news and video footage of its members burning a truckload of farm produce in Mutare made rounds on news platforms.
Nkosilathi Lesley Ngwenya
The unprecedented move by the force comes amid a series of alleged violent and degrading acts by the force meted against ordinary Zimbabweans as it enforces the current lockdown order effected by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
However, the irony of it is that the seemingly high appetite for violence and disproportionate use of force exhibited by the ZRP comes even though Zimbabweans are generally non-violent and peace-loving people who, in most cases, often have legitimate complaints or issues that need to be addressed.
The resultant criticism and disgust for the police’s conduct by the generality of Zimbabweans is, therefore, in this regard, reasonable and justified, prompting thought that, perhaps as a nation, it is high time we transition from a police force to a police service which has a mandate of protecting citizens and not harming them.
Peace and security are a public good and society as a whole will benefit from an increase in security. It is thus the mandate of the police (or one of its mandates rather) to guarantee peace and order in society and whatever procedures they employ are presumably aimed at achieving this end. Be that as it may, violence generally begets violence and resentment breeds animosity.
To that end, the ZRP’s thoughtless exercise of force and brutality as a way of quelling dissent (generally non-violent in our case) breeds fertile ground for resentment and is, therefore, not an effective strategy for achieving peace and order in the long term.
On the contrary, such conduct by the ZRP actually represents a decisive impediment to peace, stability, the rule of law and human rights in its broad sense.
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It is, therefore, crucial that non-violence should be embedded as a feature in the inherent operations of the ZRP.
And with already a significant escalation in human rights violations in the last 24 months, mostly perpetrated by the security forces on Zanu PF opponents, it is in the best interest of Mnangagwa to consider, as a matter of urgency, reforming the ZRP (and the security sector in its entirety) to transform it into a well-functioning, non-partisan and effective police/security service. The police should inspire confidence to all peace-loving and law-abiding Zimbabweans by conducting themselves in a professional, non-violent and non-partisan manner and by exhibiting a high level of moral character in their dealing with the public.
