Call for committee to probe security sector abuses
By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |
A research outfit focusing on national legislation, Veritas, has bemoaned the absence of a committee to probe complaints relating to conduct by the police, army and intelligence services when dealing with the public.
The special committee is provided for under Section 210 of the constitution and is three years late, noted Veritas in its latest update.
“Section 210 of the Constitution obliges the government to enact legislation setting up an effective and independent mechanism for receiving, investigating and remedying complaints from the public about misconduct on the part of members of the security services
“No such mechanism is in place although it is now three years since it was supposed to have been established,” said Veritas.
It added: “If the complaints mechanism envisaged by Section 210 were set up promptly, it would help restore police/public relations by enabling the public to lodge factual complaints and reduce the number of exaggerated and unsubstantiated rumours and reports in the media against the police.
The outfit made an application for the committee to be set up and its matter was heard by the Constitutional Court in January this year.
However, “although the judges gave our counsel a sympathetic hearing they have not yet given judgment”, said Veritas.
The committee is considered critical as Zimbabweans increasingly take to the streets to protests against poor governance.
Police details, who some believed included deployments from the army and intelligence services, recently descended heavily on protesters who included women and children as they suppressed popular demonstrations.
They set dogs on, beat up and illegally detained protesters, many of who needed medical attention. Section 58 of the Constitution gives people the right to assemble together freely while Section 59 provides for peaceful demonstrations and petitions.
“These rights are vital to any free democratic society, and they must be respected by the police and other law enforcement agents when they deal with public meetings and demonstrations that may become unruly.
“So important are those rights that if members of the security services…use excessive force to control or break up demonstrations, even unruly or riotous ones, then they must be brought to book and dealt with according to the law, because no one is above the law and everyone is equal before the law” as provided under Section 56 of the constitution.
Veritas, however, suggested that, in the absence of the special complaints mechanism, aggrieved citizens must report to another constitutional body, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC).
The commission is supposed to ensure the observance of human rights and freedoms, receive and process complaints of abuses and secure appropriate redress that might include prosecution of offenders.
“People who claim that their rights were violated by police officers or army personnel, and those who seek to uphold the rights of such victims, should lodge formal complaints with the Commission.
“The complaints should contain details of when and where the alleged violations took place, the names of the alleged victims, and, where possible, information that may identify the perpetrators. Complaints can be lodged at the Harare or Bulawayo offices of the Commission,” said Veritas. Nehanda Radio
