The Zimbabwe Republic Police is reportedly anticipating the upcoming 2023 polls to be violent due to the country’s political instability since the last elections in 2018, Newsday reports.
This was reportedly contained in a strategizing document by the ZRP code-named the ZRP Horizon 2025 which maps the organization’s plan for the next 5 years and uses the document to request for money from the government.
The document reads in part:
The period 2021 to 2025 is anticipated to be punctuated by political (in)stability even though the 2018 harmonised elections left some sections of the society disgruntled.
Consequently, polarisation and tension remain evident as they continue to dominate the social and mass media. Therefore, since the planning period ahead also has harmonised elections slated for 2023, an increase in tension and political contestation is expected.
According to the publication, Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe reportedly said the government is aware of the requirements of the police:
Police officers need to have modern tools of the trade and resources at their disposal if they are to outmanoeuvre criminal propensity and sophistry.
Similarly, concerted efforts will relentlessly be made by the government to avail the requisite resources which include modern policing technology gadgets and equipment in order to operationalise this strategy.
The publication spoke to one of the junior police officers who said the document did not cater to the welfare of the police officers which might lead to some bad policing like taking bribes among other things in order to improve their welfare.
ZRP has over the past few years brutally dealt with the public especially when dispersing crowds of protestors or people who are found on the other side of the law for one reason or another.
