'Opposition' police sacked in Zimbabwe

Most police are seen as being pro-Zanu PF

The chief of Zimbabwe's police force has said he will dismiss officers who back opposition parties.

Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri's warning came in the state-owned newspaper, The Herald, in which he said a number of police officers had already been sacked on these grounds.

Under Zimbabwean law, the police are not allowed to express support for political parties.

Dismissing pro-opposition supporters from the police force was acting in the interest of the majority

Police Commissioner Chihuri

"Those officers who believe they can abandon the government of the day in order to support the opposition are misguided and they will be kicked out of the force," he said.

But opposition activists say Mr Chihuri is applying the law only to officers who support the opposition, and not to those who favour the ruling party, Zanu-PF.

Blind eye

Police in Zimbabwe have repeatedly been accused of turning a blind eye on attacks against opposition politicians and white landowners.

Mr Chihuri, who earlier this year publicly declared himself a supporter of Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF, said: "Dismissing pro-opposition supporters from the police force was acting in the interests of the majority".

Tsvangirai faces a life sentence if convicted of terrorism

This threat came as the police continued their raids on the offices of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

An MDC spokesman said the latest raid - in the Midlands provincial capital of Kwekwe - followed ones in Bulawayo and on the party headquarters in Harare.

The police also questioned a trade union leader for two hours following the stay-away on 3-4 July which brought Zimbabwe to a halt.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions said its secretary-general Wellington Chibebe had been asked about his political affiliation and who had been responsible for calling the strike.

The government declared the strike action illegal.

On Thursday, the MDC's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is due to appear in the Supreme Court.

He is challenging the government's use of a colonial-era law to charge him with terrorism and inciting violence for calling on President Robert Mugabe to resign at a rally in September 2000.

Mr Tsvangirai told thousands of MDC supporters: "If he doesn't go peacefully, he will be removed by force".