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(NEWZIMBABWE) 94pc of MDC-T rallies approved: Chihuri

94pc of MDC-T rallies approved: Chihuri
by Staff Reporter
06/04/2011 00:00:00

POLICE Commissioner Augustine Chihuri has dismissed claims by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party that the ZRP was barring its rallies, insisting that 94 percent of applications by the party had been approved this year.

The MDC-T accuses the police of selective application of the law and turning a blind eye to perpetrators of political violence linked to President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party. Tsvangirai repeated the allegations on Wednesday at a memorial service for youths the party claims were killed by suspected state agents in 2008.

“We are angry because the Commissioner-General, Augustine Chihuri has chosen to engage in selective application of the law and to personalise what should otherwise be a State-institution,” Tsvangirai said.

“There has been no single arrest of these murderers. We urge Commissioner Chihuri to arrest all perpetrators of violence without fear or favour and without the needless selective application of the law.”

However, in a report prepared for a cabinet committee following complaints by the MDC-T, 644 political gatherings were allowed to go ahead by the police out of 682 applications by the party. This represented a 94 percent approval rate for MDC-T meetings.

The MDC led by Welshman Ncube made 31 notifications and 29 (94 percent) were sanctioned while Zanu PF had 816 notifications with 788 (97 percent) being approved.

Chihuri said in the instances applications were not approved, the MDC-T had deliberately organised their activities on the same days as important national events.

"Despite being in the inclusive government, the MDC-T does not only ignore national events but even has the audacity to despise those events on the national calendar like the Heroes Day," he said.

The police commissioner said political parties could not be allowed to do as they please otherwise the police force -- which numbers 30,000 for a population of 13 million people – would not be able to cope.

"If each individual was allowed to do as he/she pleased, holding parallel events to national events, no doubt the ZRP will fail in its mandate to maintain peace in the land,” he said.

"The ZRP will not brook any spurious, vexatious and cheap propaganda stunt targeted at portraying the organisation as partisan."

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), POLICE, ZRP

posted by MrK @ 5:34 PM