Press Statement
Issued by Honourable Senator Lilian Timveos, Alternative Minister and Spokesperson for Home Affairs
Preserving human life is a core value which is at the heart of Zimbabwe’s state system.
This is the reason why the MDC learnt with great shock about the killing of two suspects by Zimbabwe Republic Police officers on Sunday June 29,2014.
In their statement after the shootings, the ZRP were deliberately vague and would not say what steps would be taken to establish the truth behind these executions.
However, if there were any doubts, the chilling police attitude to killing suspects was made plain by a high-ranking officer just two days after the fatal incident in Harare.
Appearing before Parliament’s Thematic Committee on Human Rights, Assistant Commissioner Takawira Nzombe made the startling demand that the Constitution should be amended to give police the right to kill suspects before bringing them to court. Nzombe claimed that the new Constitution gave more ‘rights’ to criminals than law enforcement officials. It must be stated right here that the law does not give anyone the right to commit crimes.
What the law does is that it gives every person in Zimbabwe the right to a free trial and a fair judicial process, free from murder, torture, abuse, harassment and threats by state officials. The law also separates the powers of the three arms of government to ensure that the police do not act as judge, jury and executioner.
Above all, the law guarantees the right of every suspect to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Where lethal force is used, a proper judicial enquiry must be instituted to determine the circumstances around such action and confirm if terminal force was justified.
The request by the police that there must be a ‘constitutional amendment’ to give them power to kill suspects for any reason without bringing them to court must, therefore, be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.
We can understand the frustration of some within the police. Having contracted themselves to the Zanu PF mafia and its criminal militias, they have virtually abandoned their policing duties to perform hatchet jobs for the party.
The police are not immune to allegations that they are deliberately targeting innocent people, for political, personal and other reasons and killing them, only to brand them robbers when they are dead and cannot defend themselves. The reputation of the Zimbabwean police has been blighted by these numerous incidents where they kill suspects willy nilly.
Scores of people have been murdered under unclear circumstances in the last few years. This calls for a proper investigation.
Crime harms the community. However, an inappropriate response characterised by vindictiveness and extra-judicial killings is retrogressive. Shoot-to-kill policies simply lead to cycles of violence and vengeance which Zimbabwe cannot afford or allow.
The MDC calls for the restoration of the rule of law in the country, where law-enforcement officials are below and not above the law. This is why, as a party, we advocated for a new constitution and a system where security structures are subject to civilian control and oversight.
Thank you.
Issued by Honourable Senator Lilian Timveos, Alternative Minister and MDC-T Spokesperson for Home Affairs.
Contacts:
Email: lilimikoro@gmail.com;
Mobile: 263 779 701 082;
Website: www.liliantimveos.wordpress.com.
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