Chihuri summoned to appear before Parliamentary Portfolio Committee

Zimbabwe Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri has been summoned to appear before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs over the latest upsurge in political violence in Harare and other parts of the country. NewsDay reports.

Chihuri is also expected to brief the committee on what the police force had been doing to quell the violence that rocked parts of Harare last month, answer to allegations the police acted in a partisan manner as well as alleged police brutality in parts of Zimbabwe.

Politically-motivated violence erupted in different parts of Harare, including Mbare, Epworth, Budiriro and the dormitory town of Chitungwiza resulting in property worth thousands of dollars being destroyed. The same violence resulted in some of NewsDay's vendors being attacked by ZANU youth.

Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs chairman Paul Madzore said Chihuri had been asked to appear before the committee on February 28.

"We are saying incidents of violence have been rampant in the country and we wonder what the police are doing to curb the violence," said Madzore.

"We want citizens of Zimbabwe to feel that they are being protected by the police force. That is why we are calling the Police Commissioner-General to appear before the committee.

"We want the police to act and as a committee that plays an oversight role on Defence and Home Affairs issues in the country, we want to know what is happening to deal with perpetrators of violence."

Madzore said after quizzing the police boss, the committee planned to visit different provinces in the country to conduct public hearings where people would be given a chance to air their views on violence.

"The position we took as a committee was that we should ask the Police Commissioner-General to appear before us to explain the violence. The decision to summon Chihuri was reached unanimously by all members of the committee, who included MPs from across the political divide," Madzore said.

Mobs of youths alleged to be Zanu PF and MDC-T activists were engaged in acts of arson for the past fortnight.

Zanu PF activists descended on the streets of Harare in the past few weeks, looting shops and beating passers-by in what they said was a protest for "empowerment" under the country's Indigenisation Act, but observers described the police-sanctioned demonstrations as a pre-electoral power game.

Foreigners operating retail outlets at the Gulf Complex were not spared as what was meant to be a peaceful demonstration turned violent.

Although the MDC-T has been accusing Zanu PF for initiating the violence, Zanu PF has continuously denied the allegations. In fact, Zanu PF blames the MDC-T for the skirmishes.

The MDC-T has accused the police of being partisan by arresting only their members, allegations the force has denied.

The police have since said both Zanu PF and MDC-T were culpable.

Meanwhile, Home Affairs co-minister Theresa Makone told Parliament during a question and answer session on Wednesday that her ministry had taken measures to ensure no one would be allowed to get away with looting and forcefully taking people's property.

"As a ministry we have put mechanisms through our structures that we can now anticipate where trouble is going to take place. To show that we are taking action, on Tuesday people were tried and found guilty of violence at the courts in Mbare and some of them have been given jail terms," she said.