In a statement released by the acting secretary in the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Mr Regis Chikowore, Zanu-PF First Secretary and President Emmerson Mnangagwa distanced himself from the use of police in his party’s primary elections saying he did not sanction the use of members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) as polling officers.
Mnangagwa was responding to a news article which exposed how Zanu-PF used police officers as polling officers in its chaotic primary elections. Said Mnangagwa:
A story in one of our local dailies alleges that Zanu-PF abused police officers and other security agencies during its primaries over the weekend either as polling officers or running other party chores. The story creates the wrong impression that the alleged abuses were sanctioned by His Excellency the President, Cde E.D Mnangagwa in flagrant violation of the country’s Constitution and against his own pledge that State institutions would not be partisan, thereby undermining their constitutional roles as impartial arbiters in the electoral process. The story also suggests that it is the official policy of Zanu-PF to enlist the involvement of security arms in party chores and processes. The President in his capacity as both leader of a political party and Head of Government wishes to make it abundantly clear to all and sundry that it is neither the policy of Zanu-PF nor the direction of Government, through him, to deploy the police force or any arm of the security establishment in helping with any party function, least of all as presiding or returning officers in party primary elections. Any such instances, which might have occurred in the just-ended party primary elections would amount to a breach of Zanu-PF policy and certainly a flagrant violation of the laws of the land which must be roundly condemned and stopped forthwith.
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