THE partisan nature of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) when dealing with cases involving Zanu PF and members of the ruling elite can no longer be a subject of debate.
For years police have been known to pay a deaf ear when citizens complain against influential members of the regime and in some instances find it easier to punish the victim than to bring the perpetrator to book.
Cases to demonstrate that unprofessional side of the police force under Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri are too many to enumerate here.
However, our attention was drawn to this ugly reality of the law enforcement agents on Friday when Plumtree police arrested Matabeleland South farmer David Connolly for alleged contempt of court.
The suspicious arrest came a week after the Bulawayo High Court ruled that Ndhlukula, was in contempt of court for pushing Connolly out of his farm.
Police, it should be mentioned, paid a blind eye when Ndhlukula illegally invaded the farm and threw several workers out of employment last year.
Mugabe’s top employee had been given up to last Thursday to leave Connolly’s Centenary Farm in Figtree after he evicted him last year in violation of a court order.
The judge had given Ndhlukula a 90-day suspended sentence for contempt of court.
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But in a shock turn of events, police picked Connolly from Bulawayo and took him to the border town accusing him of contempt of court.
It does not need a rocket scientist to discern the evil intent of the police in arresting the farmer.
For close to a year, ZRP did not act on several complaints laid against Ndhlukula only to spring to action after the courts had ruled that the senior civil servant faced jail time for his criminal activities.
Clearly the police are operating like a hired force and this is unacceptable in a democracy like ours.
The ZRP should be reminded that Zimbabweans are equal before the law and the police force should guard against being abused by the powerful in society.
