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
