Demystifying the police: Patson Dzamara
By Dr. Patson Dzamara
The government of Mr. Mugabe has thrived on instilling fear through a ruthless police force. We have however now come to a watershed moment and the tables are turning.
Mr. Mugabe’s government uses the police to silence and cajole people into submission, thereby departing from and neglecting it’s fundamental duty of protecting the citizens. It is unfortunate that what is supposed to be used as an instrument to ensure that human rights are upheld is what is being used to trample on the rights of people.
The ruthless and willy nilly posture of the police has instituted and instilled a deep culture of fear and cowardice among Zimbabweans but that is changing.
We have come to a place where we are nolonger afraid of them. Yes we are not afraid to even die for our rights. We must and we are demystefying the police force.
On Wednesday, I came face to face with the frustration most Zimbabweans have been forced to bottle in. The Itai Dzamara commemorations culminated in a procession at the “Dzamara Square” opposite parliament building.
As I was about to adress and dismiss the people who had joined us in the process I witnessed a delightful picture of some gallant youths demystifying the police. That’s a mental picture I shall forever carry at the basement of my mind.
We came face to face with the police demanding the release of Itai Dzamara. We declared to the police that they may as well kill all of us…we want Dzamara to be released. Even though the police tried to intimidate us, we did not cower. We sang and made declarations in front of the police facing the parliament.
The major highlight which spoke a profound message as to how we are indeed making headway in demystifying the police was when one of the police officers grabbed me telling me to go address the crowd from the park not the road.
The moment he grabbed me, I saw what I had never imagined I would see at this juncture in Zimbabwe. All the people started advancing towards the police decraling that they can never touch, harm or take me. They declared that it was time for war if ever the police did anything to me. Some actually gave themselves up to the police, saying take us all.
Now this is the spirit we have been waiting for. These are the youths I have been yearning for. Youths who are willing to take a stand against evil at any cost. With such kind of youths, we shall redeem Zimbabwe from this quagmire of leadership failure and mismanagement.
We can’t be silent and watch from the terraces while they are defacating on our future. Whatever the cost, we are taking a stand. We want them to release Itai Dzamara and we want them to stop playing games with our future. This is just the beggining because we know God is on our side and he shall carry us through until we accomplish the mission.
Dr. Patson Dzamara is the brother of abducted activist Itai Dzamara who has been missing for over a year now
