Opinion / Columnist
Zimbabwe: Policing the police
28 Jan 2019 at 16:45hrs | Views
Every human system needs checks and balances. For developing societies, none is more apparent than the uniformed forces. The fundamental flaw of democracy is that uniformed forces, just like assassins and mercenaries, respond to the demands of whoever signs their pay-slips. Assassins and mercenaries are at least "honourably" "professional" about being lazy humans who for kill for a living and have no comprehension of the unemployment line.
Hit man or humanitarian
When you come across uniformed officers in Zimbabwe, you always have to panic and be en guard because you never know whether they serve to protect or they are the very people who participate in the abductions, maiming and killings of citizens that have occurred in the country since independence in 1980. You even have the Africa-wide phenomenon of the self-gratifying intelligence officers who unprofessionally give away that they work for obscure security. A 1979 Washington Post report details Uganda's infamous "smart boys" who worked for Idi Amin.
The week of January 12, 2019 saw the long standing Zimbabwe Crisis needing a Wikipedia page. Among the many crises former South African president Thabo Mbeki rather saw as minor, new president Emmerson Mnangagwa announced a 150% fuel hike that saw the country once again leading international headlines for a world record of the highest fuel price of US$3.11 per liter. Rioting rocked the country after the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions called for a 3-day national stay-away. So intense was the rioting that something that is largely unheard of in Zimbabwe occurred – protestors began looting.
Looting or stealing?
When amateur videos of people trashing up shops circulated on social media, all and sundry were shocked. Here was a citizenry that is widely regarded as Africa's most literate backed up against the wall. The townships as we speak are literally razed to the ground and from my own training with the UNFPA as a potential aid worker when this was expected to occur a decade ago, this is no doubt a humanitarian crisis.
Any shopkeeper has the emergency number on their phone book to call the police whenever a rogue individual or crew is caught stealing. I would like to point out that there is huge difference between stealing and looting. Stealing is a personality trait along the likes of hit men who think working for wages is a waste of time. A society doesn't just wake up and loots. Looting is a public scale gathering of goods. That IS NOT stealing. Looting is a humanitarian crisis that is an indication of the breakdown of a country's socio-economic and political process.
Looting can occur in any race, in any language and in any country if the conditions for it spark. We saw it in 2014 in the land of the free world, Ferguson, US. Each time you turn on the news, it seems like every other day, a severe protest is occurring in Greece. You would have to read Wikipedia about the domino effect of the 2008 Greek Riots that led to almost similar riots occurring in several countries in Europe as solidarity. People loot shops for goods because business owners most often are well connected to the political process and/or are economically well insured to be running a business. Subconsciously, people loot after being left out of the economic and political processes and the only thing they are holding on to, is a dwindling social process.
Degeneration of state security
All humans of legal standing will concur that violence of nature whatsoever is deplorable. The shocked Zimbabwe government, president in absentia on a luxury jetliner, however responded to the 2019 fuel protests with the police, side-by-side with the army unlike in the November 2017 coup, descending on protestors with sheer force. This angered protestors more who pushed back en mass, another thing that is unheard of in Zimbabwe.
Because all of that was playing out on social media for the world to see, the government reacted again by shutting down the internet. Pressing the internet kill switch has become popular in Africa as inspired by our Asian contemporaries with tech group Access Now recording 371 partial or full internet shutdowns between 2016 and 2018.
Information dead zone
Everyone was on/offline and sporadic information of what was going on in the country was scarce. Daily newspapers across the board were not updating their sites. The people who can get on social media are using VPNs – Virtual Private Networks – to log onto those exclusively blocked sites. So far, to the ordinary person who has no idea what a VPN is, social media and the very popular instant messaging service WhatsApp have been dead for a week now. I used to marvel when travelling, meeting and hearing people from China talk about ways of by-passing internet blocks.
It is unclear what the true impact the events of last week has had. Current verified reports reveal that at least 12 people are dead, over 100 injured and 600 are detained after the uniformed forces and masked unknowns reportedly went on a door-to-door mission hunting for looters and protestors. Many other things are for sure – the forces have been shooting at the masses and severely beating them. Such poor policing and unconstitutional conduct to say the least.
Government has blamed the opposition, civil society, activists, journalists, and the ordinary people "downloading videos" causing the internet shutdown. Popular activist pastor Evan Mawarire was arrested and is for the second time in 2 years charged with treason for supporting the stay-away. It's incredible to see pictures of truckloads of AK47-bearing police descending on a demure, bespectacled, Zimbabwe flag-draping and Bible carrying pastor as if he could pull off a Samson-on-Philistines.
Overpowered Philistines
I remain a fan of democracy, it is the best system of governance humans have so far. There were reports that in some high density areas, the overwhelmed uniformed forces allowed protestors to loot and begged them to stop burning shops to the ground. It is very important to note that uniformed forces are trained to be humanitarian workers. They have an understanding that sometimes the people can overpower them, seize weapons and it becomes a Syria.
There are serious questions to be asked. What guidelines does the United Nations give its member states about crowd control? Because we all watch movies, what "special weapons and tactics" does the UN guide? Ask any Zimbabwean, the random sight of a uniformed officer carrying the meter-long un-concealable AK47 while out and about is completely bizarre! Just like the Yellow Vest fuel riots in France, Zimbabwean security is accused of using live ammunition on citizens.
A country does not just wake up and become a war zone. With at least a whopping 80 countries in election mode this 2019 and others in various crises of their own, the Zimbabwe situation is most likely to escalate while the international community looks the other way. The "Zimbabwe problem" South Africa has, will trump up as well.
Sonny Jermain is a verbalist (verb-a-list: one who heals people with words) and is a Mutwa-Bantu custodian. He is author of I Deserve to Be: Self-worth Is a Silent Killer.
Hit man or humanitarian
When you come across uniformed officers in Zimbabwe, you always have to panic and be en guard because you never know whether they serve to protect or they are the very people who participate in the abductions, maiming and killings of citizens that have occurred in the country since independence in 1980. You even have the Africa-wide phenomenon of the self-gratifying intelligence officers who unprofessionally give away that they work for obscure security. A 1979 Washington Post report details Uganda's infamous "smart boys" who worked for Idi Amin.
The week of January 12, 2019 saw the long standing Zimbabwe Crisis needing a Wikipedia page. Among the many crises former South African president Thabo Mbeki rather saw as minor, new president Emmerson Mnangagwa announced a 150% fuel hike that saw the country once again leading international headlines for a world record of the highest fuel price of US$3.11 per liter. Rioting rocked the country after the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions called for a 3-day national stay-away. So intense was the rioting that something that is largely unheard of in Zimbabwe occurred – protestors began looting.
Looting or stealing?
When amateur videos of people trashing up shops circulated on social media, all and sundry were shocked. Here was a citizenry that is widely regarded as Africa's most literate backed up against the wall. The townships as we speak are literally razed to the ground and from my own training with the UNFPA as a potential aid worker when this was expected to occur a decade ago, this is no doubt a humanitarian crisis.
Any shopkeeper has the emergency number on their phone book to call the police whenever a rogue individual or crew is caught stealing. I would like to point out that there is huge difference between stealing and looting. Stealing is a personality trait along the likes of hit men who think working for wages is a waste of time. A society doesn't just wake up and loots. Looting is a public scale gathering of goods. That IS NOT stealing. Looting is a humanitarian crisis that is an indication of the breakdown of a country's socio-economic and political process.
Looting can occur in any race, in any language and in any country if the conditions for it spark. We saw it in 2014 in the land of the free world, Ferguson, US. Each time you turn on the news, it seems like every other day, a severe protest is occurring in Greece. You would have to read Wikipedia about the domino effect of the 2008 Greek Riots that led to almost similar riots occurring in several countries in Europe as solidarity. People loot shops for goods because business owners most often are well connected to the political process and/or are economically well insured to be running a business. Subconsciously, people loot after being left out of the economic and political processes and the only thing they are holding on to, is a dwindling social process.
Degeneration of state security
All humans of legal standing will concur that violence of nature whatsoever is deplorable. The shocked Zimbabwe government, president in absentia on a luxury jetliner, however responded to the 2019 fuel protests with the police, side-by-side with the army unlike in the November 2017 coup, descending on protestors with sheer force. This angered protestors more who pushed back en mass, another thing that is unheard of in Zimbabwe.
Because all of that was playing out on social media for the world to see, the government reacted again by shutting down the internet. Pressing the internet kill switch has become popular in Africa as inspired by our Asian contemporaries with tech group Access Now recording 371 partial or full internet shutdowns between 2016 and 2018.
Information dead zone
Everyone was on/offline and sporadic information of what was going on in the country was scarce. Daily newspapers across the board were not updating their sites. The people who can get on social media are using VPNs – Virtual Private Networks – to log onto those exclusively blocked sites. So far, to the ordinary person who has no idea what a VPN is, social media and the very popular instant messaging service WhatsApp have been dead for a week now. I used to marvel when travelling, meeting and hearing people from China talk about ways of by-passing internet blocks.
It is unclear what the true impact the events of last week has had. Current verified reports reveal that at least 12 people are dead, over 100 injured and 600 are detained after the uniformed forces and masked unknowns reportedly went on a door-to-door mission hunting for looters and protestors. Many other things are for sure – the forces have been shooting at the masses and severely beating them. Such poor policing and unconstitutional conduct to say the least.
Government has blamed the opposition, civil society, activists, journalists, and the ordinary people "downloading videos" causing the internet shutdown. Popular activist pastor Evan Mawarire was arrested and is for the second time in 2 years charged with treason for supporting the stay-away. It's incredible to see pictures of truckloads of AK47-bearing police descending on a demure, bespectacled, Zimbabwe flag-draping and Bible carrying pastor as if he could pull off a Samson-on-Philistines.
Overpowered Philistines
I remain a fan of democracy, it is the best system of governance humans have so far. There were reports that in some high density areas, the overwhelmed uniformed forces allowed protestors to loot and begged them to stop burning shops to the ground. It is very important to note that uniformed forces are trained to be humanitarian workers. They have an understanding that sometimes the people can overpower them, seize weapons and it becomes a Syria.
There are serious questions to be asked. What guidelines does the United Nations give its member states about crowd control? Because we all watch movies, what "special weapons and tactics" does the UN guide? Ask any Zimbabwean, the random sight of a uniformed officer carrying the meter-long un-concealable AK47 while out and about is completely bizarre! Just like the Yellow Vest fuel riots in France, Zimbabwean security is accused of using live ammunition on citizens.
A country does not just wake up and become a war zone. With at least a whopping 80 countries in election mode this 2019 and others in various crises of their own, the Zimbabwe situation is most likely to escalate while the international community looks the other way. The "Zimbabwe problem" South Africa has, will trump up as well.
Sonny Jermain is a verbalist (verb-a-list: one who heals people with words) and is a Mutwa-Bantu custodian. He is author of I Deserve to Be: Self-worth Is a Silent Killer.
Source - Sonny Jermain
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