Police join war veterans march in support of Mugabe

By Tererai Karimakwenda
29 August, 2007

Harare residents say the atmosphere was tense in the capital Wednesday as thousands of members of the National Liberation War Veterans Association marched to show their support for Robert Mugabe. The group, led by national chairman Jabulani Sibanda and the self-styled leader of farm invasions Joseph Chinotimba, chanted slogans and displayed placards denouncing Mugabe’s critics and supporting his policies. Some of them read: “"Give land to the people" and "Down with Western imperialists."
One group not happy with Mugabe’s policies has strongly criticised the way the march was conducted. Nelson Chamisa, information secretary for the Tsvangirai-led opposition Movement for Democratic Change, accused the police of virtually escorting the war veterans on their march. He said uniformed units were seen encouraging them by chanting and ululating along with them.
Chamisa said the MDC is disturbed by this behaviour because the police are supposed to be non-partisan. He claimed the MDC was well-informed that the war vets association had not even notified the police that they were holding demonstrations. The Public Order and Security Act requires all groups to notify police of any planned public event. Police routinely deny permission to opposition and civil groups.

The war vet procession ended up at the ZANU-Pf headquarters on Rotten Row in Harare, where Mugabe himself addressed them. We were not able to confirm exactly what he said to the group, but Chamisa believes Mugabe should have been arrested since the group had no permission from the police.

Chamisa explained that the police would normally have brutalised everyone at a demonstration and made some arrests. He said: “The police are supposed to be neutral, non-partisan. They are supposed to adhere to the rule of law without selectively applying the rule of law.” According to Chamisa, the police refused to grant their party permission to hold rallies around the country at least 113 times this month alone.

The War Veterans Association has been accused of recruiting “fake” individuals who are too young to have fought in the liberation war, and using them to harass, assault and intimidate the opposition and civil organisations. Chamisa dismissed the group that marched Wednesday as children in their late twenties. He said: “They were masquerading as war veterans but truly they are ZANU-PF veterans propping up the dictatorship.”