HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will this week confront President Robert Mugabe over the partisan manner in which police have been disrupting his government business and rallies, as tensions in the loose coalition government intensify. 

Tsvangirai and Mugabe are set for showdown talks during their meeting tomorrow if Mugabe manages to come home today from Singapore, where he has reportedly gone for medical checks.

Armed riot police attempted to stop Tsvangirai’s tour of St Pauls Hospital in Lupane yesterday and later dispersed crowds who had gathered for a rally he was to address.

The MDC leader was said to have been seething with anger after the police barricaded the entrance to the hospital with chains to prevent the tour from taking place.

Tsvangirai confronted police after they chased away staff at the hospital leaving patients unattended.

According to eye witnesses, the police officers, some who were reportedly singing Mugabe praise songs, dispersed the crowd that had turned up in their numbers by instilling fear and intimidation.

Police had tried to bar Tsvangirai’s tour of the region but the MDC successfully challenged the ban in courts.

The Prime Minister’s spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka said Tsvangirai was supposed to address a rally after the tour but the plans had to be shelved after armed police descended on innocent citizens.

He said Tsvangirai has been left with no option except to confront Mugabe over the issue which might also attract the attention of Sadc which is closely monitoring events in Zimbabwe. Zanu PF thugs have also been on a crusade causing violence in most parts of the country.

Said Tamborinyoka in a statement: “Armed riot police today attempted to disrupt Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s tour of Matabeleland North when they locked up a hospital, dispersed nursing staff and threw away food meant for villagers who wanted to attend a rally in Lupane.

“PM Tsvangirai later confronted the senior police officer at the scene and told them to respect the rule of law and allow Zimbabweans to exercise their basic freedoms of assembly, movement and association.

“The drama started when three truckloads of police officers heavily armed with guns, teargas, canisters, and batons chased away staff and locked up the gate at St Paul’s Clinic where the Prime Minister wanted to assess the dire situation at the health centre.”

According to Tamborinyoka, the clinic staff wanted the PM to assess the critical situation at the health institution which services more than 18 000 villagers but has no mortuary, no doctor and no maternity ward. 

“The armed police further went to a nearby venue where the Prime Minister was later scheduled to address a rally.

They violently dispersed the crowd that included elderly men and women who had come to interact with the PM.

“They overturned pots of food and threatened to shoot donkeys that had ferried some of the elderly to the rally. When the PM arrived at his scheduled time, the police had already violently chased everyone from the venue of the rally and ordered nursing staff and patients out of the clinic."

“He (Tsvangirai) said he would discuss the deplorable conduct by the police with the co-ministers of Home Affairs and the President,” reads part of the statement."

When contacted for comment over the matter, police spokesperson for Matabeleland North Trust Ndlovu said he was not aware of anything.

“I am not in there right now, I do not know what is happening there,” Ndlovu said.

Tamborinyoka condemned police for being partisan.

“The police were behaving in a partisan manner. It is a poisoned environment ahead of the elections and the Prime Minister is taking the matter seriously and he will definitely raise it with the President,” Tamborinyoka added on.

The Daily News on Sunday also heard how the officers threw away meat that had been prepared for invited guests on the muddy ground in their efforts to disperse the crowd.

“Old women who had travelled using scotch carts were turned away hungry and can you imagine they watched as police threw the meat away. Where are we going, it seems like we are slowly turning into a police state,” Tamborinyoka said.

Sadc has repeatedly castigated Mugabe for selective application of the law in which police treat MDC members and human rights fighters as second rate citizens.

By Daily News