Zimbabwe?s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has accused police chief Augustine Chihuri of ordering his officers not to arrest state security agents and ruling ZANU PF party militia allegedly committing violence against supporters of the opposition party.

MDC secretary general Tendai Biti told Chihuri in a recent letter that by allegedly instructing the police not arrest perpetrators of violence he was breaching the country?s Constitution. Biti warned Chihuri that he will be held ?responsible and liable? for the law enforcement agency?s failure to carry out its duty.

Biti wrote: ?We have it on good record that you have ordered members of the police not to interfere in the orgy of violence perpetrated on the civilian population. It is clear that members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and Zanu PF youth and militia are immune from arrest and prosecution despite their brazen unlawful conduct.?

The MDC official, a lawyer by profession, said Chihuri?s conduct was in violation of Section 93 of the Constitution obliging the police to preserve the internal security of Zimbabwe and to maintain law and order in the country.?You are ultimately responsible and liable for the failure (by the police) in carrying out this constitutional responsibility.?

Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena declined to comment on Biti?s letter but insisted the police have always arrested people suspected of breaching the law without regard to their political affiliation.?We stand ready to execute our duties professionally if reports of violence are made to us,? said Bvudzijena. ?No one is immune to arrest after committing an offence. The MDC should give us evidence and we will carryout our constitutional mandate.?

The MDC says 15 of its supporters have been killed in the violence while 3 000 others have been displaced from their homes, in what it the opposition party has described as a war being waged by state security agents and ZANU PF militias against Zimbabweans. The opposition party says the violence is meant to cow Zimbabweans to vote for President Robert Mugabe in an anticipated second round run off election against its leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is yet to issue the much awaited results of a March 29 presidential vote, which ZANU PF and independent observers acknowledge Mugabe lost to Tsvangirai, although they say a second round of voting is required to settle the contest. ZANU PF lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in 28 years in a parallel parliamentary poll when it garnered 97 seats compared to 110 won by the MDC and other minor opposition candidates.

© Zimonline