Opinion / Columnist
Police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga a hero in the making
13 Feb 2021 at 09:38hrs | Views
The Police Commissioner General Mr GodwinMatanga is a gentle giant but brutally effective.
The United Kingdom of Britain imposed sanctions on three security chiefs plus a minister of state security. This includes The police Commissioner General Mr Matanga. But who is Matanga who seems absent but being felt every moment.
Godwin Tandabantu Matanga is a senior Zimbabwean law enforcement officer. Matanga is the current Commissioner-General of the Zimbabwe Republic Police. He was named acting Commissioner-General after long-serving ZRP Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri retired in December 2017. On 12 February 2017, the Public Service Commission announced Matanga's appointment as the substantive Commissioner General at the President's pleasure.
On 2 February 2021 the UK government imposed sanction on Godwin Matanga for what has been termed gross human rights violations, this was imposed without any proof of gross Hunan rights abuse. If the truth is to be said Matanga has transformed the Police Force to be a Police service. Zimbabweans will confirm that there has been a great change between Matanga's force and the one which was led by Chihuri.
The police was infested with corrupt officers who turned the people against the police force. It was a common sight to see a policeman walking in the street with a piece of bread eating his dignity away. The word dignity and police were not found in the same sentence. Every road bock was a place of corruption. Corruption in the police was stinking to an extent of reaching the most high place.
Matanga ushered in a nee order cancelling all the unnecessary road blocks. A hotline was introduced to report any policeman who engages is corruption.
There was corruption in the recruiting process at Morris Deport officers would ask the job seekers to pay if they wanted to be taken in as police recruits. Sexual abuse was rampant at Morris Deport and many training centres. Matanga came in and stopped the rot. Zimbabweans owe Matanga for removing rampant corruption in the police ranks.
By 2017 the police force was the most hated force in Zimbabwe and traffic police officers became the richest in the country. All this circus was called to order by Tandabantu.
Now after doing all this work the United Kingdom rewarded him by a sanction. Matanga becomes the Police Commissioner in Africa to be slapped with Sanctions for doing the right thing.
The state security minister, intelligence director, police chief and leader of the Presidential Guard have been sanctioned for their alleged role in the deaths of 23 Zimbabwean protesters killed for expressing the right to free speech and demonstration. This was how the British understood it three years later. In summary a mob of thugs led by the MDC A vanguard marched to the election command centre with the intention to force the Electoral Commission to announce the election result before they are collated.
As they marched to the Sheraton Hotel they burnt building cars and blocked the roads. The assaulted people on the road. Zimbabwe was to be faced with a danger of having the mob to become deciders of the elections.
The Police tried to stop the mob and police cars where burnt and I order to save the nation the police requested the army for back up which came. The soldiers managed to push the protesters away from the command centre. This was a very effective way of containing the crowds.
This was the situation in America where the mob attacked the CAPITOlilling ten people in the process. Zimbabwe could not Sa but they did what they could do.
This crowd management deserved a chip on the shoulder and not slapping with a sanction.
A travel ban and asset freeze has been levied on the commissioner General meaning he can no longer travel freely to the UK nor channel money through Britain's banks or economy. They are held responsible by the UK Government for the worst human rights violations against the people of Zimbabwe since President Mnangagwa took over. The reality of the matter there was never a breach of peace.
Matanga the Police Commissioner General is a good and a cool person. In 1978 at the age 16 Matanga crossed the border into Mozambique where he joined the liberation struggle. He was deployed for training in Romania and Egypt in 1979. His training strengthened him and he has learnt to be good to all. Following his return from Mozambique, Matanga was attested into the Zimbabwe Republic Police as a patrol officer in October 1982. He acquired vast experience in the Zimbabwe Republic Police, rising through the ranks to Deputy Commissioner General in 1992, a rank that he held until his promotion to Commissioner General of the police. Matanga has proved that he is the lover of people.
But what are these targeted sanctions slapped on the four security chiefs and do they help.
Targeted sanctions are intended to be directed at individuals, companies and organizations, or restrict trade with key commodities. ... Financial sanctions (freezing of funds and other financial assets, ban on transactions, investment restrictions.
Sanctions are one of the tools utilised to address human rights violations. They are also an increasingly prominent tool in the European Union's foreign policy. International sanctions policy is part of a global trend towards individualisation: rather than affecting the state as a whole, bans nowadays are targeted at individuals identified as responsible for the abuses.
Originally developed within the context of the United Nations the practice of applying sanctions against individuals has become commonplace in EU foreign policy.
Sanctions against individuals represent the narrowest expression of a targeted sanction, discriminating clearly between targets and non-targets, while other types tend to display effects on non-targeted populations to different degrees.
Although traditionally highly targeted, EU sanctions (including those applied against individuals) are gradually becoming less discriminating, largely as a result of frequent litigation.
Despite the increasing trend towards individualisation of sanctions, few instances are known as yet in which the behaviour of targets has been affected, at least in a way that incites compliance with the sender's aims.
Still, a comprehensive inquiry into UN individually targeted sanctions found a compliance ratio of about 20 %, which does not deviate from common estimates for comprehensive embargoes.
Nevertheless, even the most optimistic assessments concede that the performance of individual sanctions could be improved beyond present compliance ratios with the help of better informed targeting policies.
In his 1997 report on the work of the United Nations, Secretary General Kofi Annan stressed the importance of economic sanctions: the Security Council's tool to bring pressure without recourse to force. At the same time Annan worried about the harm that sanctions inflict on vulnerable civilian groups, and their collateral damage to third states. He acknowledged that "[i]t is increasingly accepted that the design and implementation of sanctions mandated by the Security Council need to be improved, and their humanitarian costs to civilian populations reduced as far as possible."1
Widely shared concerns about humanitarian and third country effects can undermine the political unity required for the effective implementation of multilateral sanctions. The case of Iraq stands as Exhibit A. With the erosion of support for the embargo against Iraq, it is becoming clear that the effectiveness of a sanctions regime partly depends on how it addresses humanitarian issues. Although virtually all sanctions regimes launched during the 1990s allow trade in humanitarian goods, the "blunt weapon" of comprehensive embargo inevitably hurts those at the bottom of the economic heap. Given the poor track record of sanctions in achieving their foreign policy goals, the conventional wisdom that civilian pain leads to political gain is being questioned. Many ask whether the costs of sanctions are worth the results.
Despite sanctions conveniently called targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe the lives of Zimbabwean citizens has become worse.
"Targeted sanctions" or "smart sanctions", like "smart bombs", are meant to focus their impact on leaders, political elites and segments of society believed to be responsible for objectionable behavior, while reducing collateral damage to the general population and third countries.
Zimbabwe has been under the cruel jaws of the West and as the West chews and grinds the life out of every Zimbabwean life they try to beautify the evil act and call it targeted sanctions.
The world has seen the sanctions
on Hong Kong's chief executive, its police commissioner, mainland China's top official for the territory and other senior leaders for "undermining Hong Kong's autonomy and restricting the freedom of expression or assembly," the U.S. Treasury announced then.
Like the administration's other sanctions, these were mainly symbolic, as the officials designated thad few U.S. assets to sanction.
What surprises people most is the fact that we all know that the police to not make laws. They only enforce laws. So sanctioning the security officers who are just implementing rules is denmonic.
The record indicates that targeted sanctions have been used either as a "warm-up" for broader measures or as the supposed "knock-out" punch.
To summarize, targeted sanctions may satisfy the need in sender states to "do something", they may slake humanitarian concerns, and they may serve to unify fraying coalitions. But they are not a magic bullet for achieving foreign policy goals. Again quoting UN Secretary General: "The international community should be under no illusion: these humanitarian and human rights policy goals cannot easily be reconciled with those of a sanctions regime. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that sanctions are a tool of enforcement and, like other methods of enforcement, they will do harm. This should be borne in mind when the decision to impose them is taken, and when the results are subsequently evaluated."
Did the UK consider the plight of Zimbabweans in piling more sanctions. This shows a typical disregard of the plight of Zimbabweans. The UK is concerned with the regime change. But to whose benefit of it does not please the generality of Zimbabwe except Biti and his thick head. The sinister reason behind the targeted sanctions is clear.
Azet2000@7-ahoo
The United Kingdom of Britain imposed sanctions on three security chiefs plus a minister of state security. This includes The police Commissioner General Mr Matanga. But who is Matanga who seems absent but being felt every moment.
Godwin Tandabantu Matanga is a senior Zimbabwean law enforcement officer. Matanga is the current Commissioner-General of the Zimbabwe Republic Police. He was named acting Commissioner-General after long-serving ZRP Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri retired in December 2017. On 12 February 2017, the Public Service Commission announced Matanga's appointment as the substantive Commissioner General at the President's pleasure.
On 2 February 2021 the UK government imposed sanction on Godwin Matanga for what has been termed gross human rights violations, this was imposed without any proof of gross Hunan rights abuse. If the truth is to be said Matanga has transformed the Police Force to be a Police service. Zimbabweans will confirm that there has been a great change between Matanga's force and the one which was led by Chihuri.
The police was infested with corrupt officers who turned the people against the police force. It was a common sight to see a policeman walking in the street with a piece of bread eating his dignity away. The word dignity and police were not found in the same sentence. Every road bock was a place of corruption. Corruption in the police was stinking to an extent of reaching the most high place.
Matanga ushered in a nee order cancelling all the unnecessary road blocks. A hotline was introduced to report any policeman who engages is corruption.
There was corruption in the recruiting process at Morris Deport officers would ask the job seekers to pay if they wanted to be taken in as police recruits. Sexual abuse was rampant at Morris Deport and many training centres. Matanga came in and stopped the rot. Zimbabweans owe Matanga for removing rampant corruption in the police ranks.
By 2017 the police force was the most hated force in Zimbabwe and traffic police officers became the richest in the country. All this circus was called to order by Tandabantu.
Now after doing all this work the United Kingdom rewarded him by a sanction. Matanga becomes the Police Commissioner in Africa to be slapped with Sanctions for doing the right thing.
The state security minister, intelligence director, police chief and leader of the Presidential Guard have been sanctioned for their alleged role in the deaths of 23 Zimbabwean protesters killed for expressing the right to free speech and demonstration. This was how the British understood it three years later. In summary a mob of thugs led by the MDC A vanguard marched to the election command centre with the intention to force the Electoral Commission to announce the election result before they are collated.
As they marched to the Sheraton Hotel they burnt building cars and blocked the roads. The assaulted people on the road. Zimbabwe was to be faced with a danger of having the mob to become deciders of the elections.
The Police tried to stop the mob and police cars where burnt and I order to save the nation the police requested the army for back up which came. The soldiers managed to push the protesters away from the command centre. This was a very effective way of containing the crowds.
This was the situation in America where the mob attacked the CAPITOlilling ten people in the process. Zimbabwe could not Sa but they did what they could do.
This crowd management deserved a chip on the shoulder and not slapping with a sanction.
A travel ban and asset freeze has been levied on the commissioner General meaning he can no longer travel freely to the UK nor channel money through Britain's banks or economy. They are held responsible by the UK Government for the worst human rights violations against the people of Zimbabwe since President Mnangagwa took over. The reality of the matter there was never a breach of peace.
Matanga the Police Commissioner General is a good and a cool person. In 1978 at the age 16 Matanga crossed the border into Mozambique where he joined the liberation struggle. He was deployed for training in Romania and Egypt in 1979. His training strengthened him and he has learnt to be good to all. Following his return from Mozambique, Matanga was attested into the Zimbabwe Republic Police as a patrol officer in October 1982. He acquired vast experience in the Zimbabwe Republic Police, rising through the ranks to Deputy Commissioner General in 1992, a rank that he held until his promotion to Commissioner General of the police. Matanga has proved that he is the lover of people.
But what are these targeted sanctions slapped on the four security chiefs and do they help.
Targeted sanctions are intended to be directed at individuals, companies and organizations, or restrict trade with key commodities. ... Financial sanctions (freezing of funds and other financial assets, ban on transactions, investment restrictions.
Sanctions are one of the tools utilised to address human rights violations. They are also an increasingly prominent tool in the European Union's foreign policy. International sanctions policy is part of a global trend towards individualisation: rather than affecting the state as a whole, bans nowadays are targeted at individuals identified as responsible for the abuses.
Originally developed within the context of the United Nations the practice of applying sanctions against individuals has become commonplace in EU foreign policy.
Sanctions against individuals represent the narrowest expression of a targeted sanction, discriminating clearly between targets and non-targets, while other types tend to display effects on non-targeted populations to different degrees.
Although traditionally highly targeted, EU sanctions (including those applied against individuals) are gradually becoming less discriminating, largely as a result of frequent litigation.
Despite the increasing trend towards individualisation of sanctions, few instances are known as yet in which the behaviour of targets has been affected, at least in a way that incites compliance with the sender's aims.
Still, a comprehensive inquiry into UN individually targeted sanctions found a compliance ratio of about 20 %, which does not deviate from common estimates for comprehensive embargoes.
Nevertheless, even the most optimistic assessments concede that the performance of individual sanctions could be improved beyond present compliance ratios with the help of better informed targeting policies.
In his 1997 report on the work of the United Nations, Secretary General Kofi Annan stressed the importance of economic sanctions: the Security Council's tool to bring pressure without recourse to force. At the same time Annan worried about the harm that sanctions inflict on vulnerable civilian groups, and their collateral damage to third states. He acknowledged that "[i]t is increasingly accepted that the design and implementation of sanctions mandated by the Security Council need to be improved, and their humanitarian costs to civilian populations reduced as far as possible."1
Widely shared concerns about humanitarian and third country effects can undermine the political unity required for the effective implementation of multilateral sanctions. The case of Iraq stands as Exhibit A. With the erosion of support for the embargo against Iraq, it is becoming clear that the effectiveness of a sanctions regime partly depends on how it addresses humanitarian issues. Although virtually all sanctions regimes launched during the 1990s allow trade in humanitarian goods, the "blunt weapon" of comprehensive embargo inevitably hurts those at the bottom of the economic heap. Given the poor track record of sanctions in achieving their foreign policy goals, the conventional wisdom that civilian pain leads to political gain is being questioned. Many ask whether the costs of sanctions are worth the results.
Despite sanctions conveniently called targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe the lives of Zimbabwean citizens has become worse.
"Targeted sanctions" or "smart sanctions", like "smart bombs", are meant to focus their impact on leaders, political elites and segments of society believed to be responsible for objectionable behavior, while reducing collateral damage to the general population and third countries.
Zimbabwe has been under the cruel jaws of the West and as the West chews and grinds the life out of every Zimbabwean life they try to beautify the evil act and call it targeted sanctions.
The world has seen the sanctions
on Hong Kong's chief executive, its police commissioner, mainland China's top official for the territory and other senior leaders for "undermining Hong Kong's autonomy and restricting the freedom of expression or assembly," the U.S. Treasury announced then.
Like the administration's other sanctions, these were mainly symbolic, as the officials designated thad few U.S. assets to sanction.
What surprises people most is the fact that we all know that the police to not make laws. They only enforce laws. So sanctioning the security officers who are just implementing rules is denmonic.
The record indicates that targeted sanctions have been used either as a "warm-up" for broader measures or as the supposed "knock-out" punch.
To summarize, targeted sanctions may satisfy the need in sender states to "do something", they may slake humanitarian concerns, and they may serve to unify fraying coalitions. But they are not a magic bullet for achieving foreign policy goals. Again quoting UN Secretary General: "The international community should be under no illusion: these humanitarian and human rights policy goals cannot easily be reconciled with those of a sanctions regime. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that sanctions are a tool of enforcement and, like other methods of enforcement, they will do harm. This should be borne in mind when the decision to impose them is taken, and when the results are subsequently evaluated."
Did the UK consider the plight of Zimbabweans in piling more sanctions. This shows a typical disregard of the plight of Zimbabweans. The UK is concerned with the regime change. But to whose benefit of it does not please the generality of Zimbabwe except Biti and his thick head. The sinister reason behind the targeted sanctions is clear.
Azet2000@7-ahoo
Source - Dr Masimba Mavaza
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