News / National
Clash between war vets and police does not build peace
26 Feb 2016 at 01:09hrs | Views
Senator David Anthony Chimhini has said the recent clash between the war veterans and the police in Harare does not augur well in issues of peace and stability.
"I just want to make one comment about the presentation by the President. In his last remarks, he mentioned something about peace and I stand very worried about the peace in this country," said the senator. "Last week, we had an incident where there was a clash between the police and the war veterans. In my view, this does not build peace in this country. My concern is that we may be playing with State security and institutions which we may find very difficult to manage."
He said it is not his business to discuss what happens in other political parties, but it is of great concern that we have a situation where everybody finds people who are supposed to be leading the Security Sector in this country clashing in public.
"The next issue which I raise, which is of great concern is that the President was one of the first people to come out and actually abhor the conflict or clash. I would expect the same President, every time when we have a situation where the police over-react, to come out and abhor such happenings because what we normally see is that, when other organisations have demonstrations people are beaten up, harassed and nothing really happens. In this case, the President came out very clearly to stop what was happening. To me this was a sign that there was a security threat," he said.
"As Senators, I think we must call on the leadership and Government of this country that we want peace and stability because if we do not do that and allow political parties to fight amongst themselves, it disturbs the stability of this country. I think we are heading nowhere as a country."
"I just want to make one comment about the presentation by the President. In his last remarks, he mentioned something about peace and I stand very worried about the peace in this country," said the senator. "Last week, we had an incident where there was a clash between the police and the war veterans. In my view, this does not build peace in this country. My concern is that we may be playing with State security and institutions which we may find very difficult to manage."
He said it is not his business to discuss what happens in other political parties, but it is of great concern that we have a situation where everybody finds people who are supposed to be leading the Security Sector in this country clashing in public.
"The next issue which I raise, which is of great concern is that the President was one of the first people to come out and actually abhor the conflict or clash. I would expect the same President, every time when we have a situation where the police over-react, to come out and abhor such happenings because what we normally see is that, when other organisations have demonstrations people are beaten up, harassed and nothing really happens. In this case, the President came out very clearly to stop what was happening. To me this was a sign that there was a security threat," he said.
"As Senators, I think we must call on the leadership and Government of this country that we want peace and stability because if we do not do that and allow political parties to fight amongst themselves, it disturbs the stability of this country. I think we are heading nowhere as a country."
Source - Byo24News
