V. Delay in Implementing Institutional Reforms

The top leadership of Zimbabwe’s security forces, comprising the armed forces, police, prison service, and Central Intelligence Organization, remain partisan and aligned to President Mugabe and ZANU-PF.[57] The leaders of the security forces who previously publicly declared their support for ZANU-PF and who were implicated in serious human rights violations associated with electoral political violence in 2008 have not been disciplined, removed from their posts, or charged with criminal offenses.

For example, the power-sharing agreement formally abolished the so-called Joint Operations Command (JOC), the body that Mugabe and pro-ZANU-PF security chiefs had used up to 2008 to run the country, and stipulated that it be replaced by a National Security Council, made up of the same security chiefs and chaired by Mugabe but with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a member. However, this council, which was formed at the same time as the power-sharing government, has only met once in six months; under the terms of the power-sharing agreement, it is required to meet at least once every month.[58] At the same time, ZANU-PF has continued to use the JOC’s provincial structures, and JOC members continue to hold clandestine weekly meetings with Mugabe.[59] In this, as with other issues mandated under the GPA, ZANU-PF has shown no willingness to honor its commitments or change behavior.

To demonstrate an intent to respect human rights and the rule of law, and to fulfill the GPA’s requirement to ensure that recruitment policies and practices are, as laid down in article 13, “conducted in a manner that ensures that no political or other form of favoritism is practiced,” the power-sharing government should quickly institute reforms in the judiciary, police, prisons, and armed forces with a view to making them genuinely professional and non-partisan.[60] As a first step, it should oblige all senior office-holders to reapply for their positions alongside other candidates before an independent panel of key stakeholders. The emphasis should be placed on appointing professional leaders with a record of commitment to justice and independence from political interference. These kinds of urgent personnel reforms are necessary to restore trust in Zimbabwe’s public institutions.