Zimbabwe
Country Background
Zimbabwe attained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1980 and the elections held that year resulted in Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) winning the majority of seats, with 20 seats reserved for the white minority, which was won by the Rhodesia Front. Mugabe thus became Prime Minister of a coalition government, but by 1987 the removal of the reserved seats for the white minority due to changes in the constitution took place and Mugabe became the first executive President in the same year. The 1990 elections resulted in Mugabe’s second victory and the 1996 elections, his third victory. The 1990s were characterised by public dissatisfaction due to inflation, unemployment, corruption and the land resettlement programme. Food riots took place in 1998 and illegal farm occupations in the same year. By 1999 the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was created by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions under Morgan Tsvangirai for the main purpose of contesting the 2000 elections. The 2000 general elections resulted in the MDC winning 46% of the vote thus becoming ZANU-PF’s main opposition, despite irregularities in the polls. The 2002 elections resulted in Mugabe’s victory in the face of reports of the elections not being free or fair.
Zimbabwe has been steadily spiralling into a political and economic crisis since 1999 as the state has become more and more oppressive and increasingly intolerant of civil society, the media, opposition parties and foreign organisations. Violence and intimidation of critics and political opponents of the state, the politicisation of the security forces and a disregard for human rights seems to prevail. In light of this, it should be noted that the capacity and independence of the oversight mechanisms discussed below are severely compromised by the situation in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe Police
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) is under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs but, it has been reported, that some activities of the ZRP are controlled by the President’s Office. The police are centrally controlled in Harare with provincial centres. The crisis in Zimbabwe has affected the police in that they are no longer as effective in dealing with rising crime due to resource limitations and politicisation of those in the higher ranks and the recruiting of ZANU-PF supporters in the lower ranks regardless of training or qualifications.
Extract from: Berg, J. (2005) Police Accountability in Southern African Commonwealth Countries. Cape Town: Institute of Criminology
The force consists of at least 21,800 officers and is headquartered in Harare [1]. The force is organised by province, and comprises uniformed national police, the Criminal Investigation Department, and traffic police. It also includes specialist support units including the (paramilitary) Police Support Unit and riot police, a Police Internal Security and Intelligence unit (the equivalent of the Rhodesian Special Branch); and ceremonial and canine units. Overall command of the force is exercised by the commissioner, currently Augustine Chihuri.
Extract from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe_Republic_Police
The CIA Fact book puts the population of Zimbabwe at 12.5 m people
(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html) estimating the police:population ratio to be 1:573.
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