Police have blocked 86 gatherings of the ruling Zanu PF party between January 1 and July 10 as compared to 65 from its main rival CCC in the same period despite claims by the opposition party that the police were biased against it in approving its public gatherings.
The statistics were provided by the Permanent Secretary in
the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Dr Gerald Gwinji during a
briefing of observers and diplomatic missions on the Government’s state of
preparedness ahead of next month’s harmonised elections.
The meeting was convened by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and International Trade.
Dr Gwinji said political gatherings in the country were
governed through the Constitution and the Maintenance of Peace and Security
Act.
“Some of the requirements of these laws are that these
gatherings are notified to the police to avoid clashes and any other public
disorders that might inconvenience members of the public or other parties. All
political players are required to comply with these provisions.
“Since January 2023 operational districts across the
country are maintaining registers of all notifications to hold public meetings
made by political parties. Different political parties have notified police of
their gatherings and some have met legal requirements while some did not meet
the legal requirements,” Dr Gwinji said.
He said since January 2023, Zanu PF had sent 1 437
notifications to the police to hold public gatherings with 1 351 being
compliant with legal requirements while 86 were not.
During the same period the CCC made 410 applications with
345 of them being compliant with the legal requirements while 65 were declined.
The MDC-T made 30 notifications with 23 being approved
while 7 were not and other political parties made a combined 89 notifications
with the law enforcement agents approving 80 while 9 were not compliant.
Dr Gwinji said the ZRP was also training its personnel on
policing during the elections with 88 percent of officers to be deployed having
already undergone training and had also come up with an elections strategy to
ensure coordinated and harmonised policing during the elections.
The Permanent Secretary also said they had also established
a special police investigations unit in terms of the Electoral Act to speedily
investigate speedily any cases of political violence or intimidation.
Dr Gwinji said the ZRP had also joined the political
parties liaison committees that are meant to address disputes between political
players to ensure a level playing field. Herald
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