July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Wednesday, July 11, 2001 - Web posted at 8:37:27 AM GMT

Zimbabwe police chief to sack opposition supportes from force

Zimbabwe's police chief has vowed to dismiss members from the force who support opposition politics, the state-owned Herald reported Wednesday.

"Those officers who believe they can abandon the government of the day in order to support the opposition are misguided and they will be kicked out of the force," Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri told the paper.

An undisclosed number of officers have already been fired on those grounds, the police chief said.

Chihuri is a self-declared supporter of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) of President Robert Mugabe.

Police in Zimbabwe have been consistently accused of neglecting their duties. Violent attacks on the opposition by ruling party supporters left at least 34 people dead in the run up to last year's general elections.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claims another five of its supporters were killed in politically-motivated attacks last week.

Dismissing pro-opposition supporters from the police force was acting in "the interests of the majority", Chihuri added.

The ruling party scraped a narrow victory over the MDC in last year's elections, winning 62 of the 120 contested seats against the MDC's 57.

Presidential elections are due early next year in which 77-year-old President Mugabe will be standing as the ruling party's candidate.

Nampa-Sapa-AFP

•  Big Brother Africa 3: The audacity of Hazel!
•  Big Brother Africa 3: Who's your winner?