by Staff Reporter
IN a move explicitly designed to stop an avalanche of lawsuits coming from aggrieved juniors, the Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Augustine Chihuri this week sought to discourage them from dragging him to court by bragging that his authority cannot be challenged in the courts.
Chihuri is being sued in his official capacity as police chief by a number of current and former members of the police force for various violations and abuses that they content are rife within the supposedly law enforcement agency.
In a full-page statement published in a broadsheet weekly, The Sunday Mail, Chihuri sternly warns his juniors that he has powers to discipline them in whatever way he sees fit and no other authority in the land can take away that power.
“The Commissioner General of Police is given the powers to command the police Service by Section 221 of the Constitution to have the command, superintendence and control of the Police Force; to appoint fit and proper persons to be members; and to promote, suspend, reduce in rank or discharge any member other than an officer,’”
An “officer” according to the ZRP ranking system, is any member from position of Inspector and above.
The statement pointed out that powers to discipline members of the Police Service resides with the Commissioner General of Police. And In executing this function, Chihuri does not so indiscriminately, “but within the permissible limits of the law.”
“Section 34 of the Police Act regulates trials before a court of a single officer. In terms of sub-section (7), an appeal against the decision of the single officer lies to (sic) the Commissioner General of Police. Thus, the Commissioner General of Police is the final court of appeal for non-commissioned members, i.e. Assistant inspector, Sergeant Major, Sergeant and Constable, of the ZRP,”
The statement went on to list examples of court rulings that it said showed that Chihuri’s word was final.
Already this year more than 20 cases against Chihuri have been heard in the High Court in which his juniors seek redress against various violations of their rights, which they allege to have been committed by the force.
In some of these cases, the junior officers would be seeking to force Chihuri to comply with court orders made in their favour, orders which the ZRP would have simply ignored.
One such junior officer, Samuel Kufandada from Bulawayo dragged his superiors to court for defying a High court order after successfully challenging his transfer from Ross Camp to ZRP Makosa in Murehwa district. Kufandada filed a court application for contempt of court at the Bulawayo High Court citing Chihuri, Senior Assistant Commissioner Justice Chengeta (chief staff officer-in-charge of ZRP human resources), Snr Asst Comm Stephen Mutamba (officer commanding police in Bulawayo province), the officer commanding police in Murehwa district and the officer in charge of Stops/Ross Camp in Bulawayo as respondents.
Last week another police officer, Lazarus Gondo, dragged Chihuri to the High Court fighting against a seven-day jail-term imposed on him for alleged misconduct.
Late last year, the High Court ordered Chihuri to pay a former detective, Bazil Nyapokoto US$64 000 in damages after he was hounded from the force for testifying against fellow cops that had committed crimes against civilians.
It is not uncommon for members of ZRP, who are viewed by their superiors as being less sympathetic to President Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party to have charges of trumped up indiscipline brought up against them. In some cases, the officers targeted for victimisation are moved from urban areas to remote rural outposts where they are left at the mercy of marauding war veterans and ZANU-PF thugs.
