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Crime Reporter
The Zimbabwe Republic Police has set up a National Elections Command as it gears up for the forthcoming harmonised elections. The election date is yet to be announced. The Herald has it on good authority that Senior Assistant Commissioner Erasmus Mukodza has been appointed by the ZRP to head the National Elections Command. He will be based at the Police General Headquarters and his team will assess the situation on the ground countrywide before, during and after the harmonised elections. The team will soon tour all the country’s 10 provinces to assess the ZRP’s state of preparedness for the elections.

The setting up of the National Elections Command comes after President Mnangagwa urged the police to play a pivotal role in ensuring that the elections were held in a peaceful and conducive atmosphere characterised by effective policing.

President Mnangagwa made the call while officially opening the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) New Headquarters and Forensic Science Laboratory in Harare last month. “Allow me to reiterate that we are going to have free, fair and credible elections,” he said.

“As the country’s law enforcement agency, we, therefore, expect you to play a pivotal role by contributing to the building of a conducive atmosphere that begets such a desired outcome, through efficient and effective policing. Government would thus do everything in its power to ensure that you are ready to adequately police the forthcoming plebiscite.”

President Mnangagwa urged the police to deal diligently and decisively with all forms of political violence.

Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga is on record saying the ZRP will not tolerate any form of violence whether intra-party or inter-party.

So far the country has witnessed gruesome acts of violence within the MDC-T, which have left some officials in the opposition party seriously injured. The fights were over who takes over from the late MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, who died last month.