HARARE – Attempting to shift blame for the killing of at least 12 people and the wounding of up to nearly 90 others, Zimbabwe’s military blamed rogue soldiers and deserters on Saturday.
Amid a torrent of international condemnation of the security forces’ heavy-handed response to fuel protests on January 14, the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Zimbabwe Defence Forces held a joint press briefing in Harare and denied responsibility for the killings.
Accounts by human rights groups and videos posted online by Zimbabweans show soldiers and police moving door-to-door in urban areas beating up people suspected to have participated in protests. Some were shot.
The army and the police however deny any responsibility, claiming instead that some of those people wearing police or army uniform stole the regalia in Epworth and Chegutu.
“Some of these uniforms worn by criminals were seized by rogue elements during the recent riots in Epworth and Chegutu. A case in point is a recent arrest of five armed robbers in Epworth, Harare, on January 14, 2019, who were using police and military regalia to commit armed robberies after hiring vehicles from car rental companies,” Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said, reading a joint statement.
“We are therefore giving an ultimatum to individuals who have retired, deserted, absented themselves without official leave (AWOL) from service to immediately handover uniforms either to the police or the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
“All those who do not comply with this directive will be flushed out by already deployed members of the security services. We are also appealing to members of the public who have information on such people who are not serving members and are abusing military or police regalia to report to the police.”
Nkululeko Sibanda, the spokesman for MDC leader Nelson Chamisa said they were demanding an independent investigation into the alleged atrocities by security forces, as he rejected the claims of stolen uniforms.
“The cover-up is always more stupid than the original crime,” he said. “They can’t expect us to believe that as state security agents they were robbed of their own uniforms and stuff.”
