Security chiefs' wings to be clipped

The notorious Joint Operations Command (JOC) made up of security chiefs and accused of committing human rights violations on behalf of Zanu-PF will be dissolved in the new constitution.

According to the draft constitution, the JOC operations would fall under a National Security Council (NSC) regulated by an Act of Parliament.

The JOC has been fiercely opposed by the MDC parties in the shaky inclusive government has been accused of masterminding the "bloody" presidential run-off campaign culminating in the 2008 crisis that claimed over 200 lives and displaced thousands.

After the MDC-T's initial success in the March 2008 elections, JOC allegedly began a brutal campaign of violence forcing then opposition leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to withdraw from the presidential run-off poll in June. Little has changed since then.

"There is a National Security Council consisting of the President as chairperson, the Vice-Presidents and such ministers and members of the security services and other persons as may be determined in an act of Parliament," reads Section 11:4 (1) of the draft.
 
According to the draft, NSC would develop the country's security policy and advise the President.

The developments are set to put to rest the war between Zanu PF and the MDC parties over JOC which is made up of security chiefs in the army, police, Central Intelligence Organisation and the prisons department.
 
Military men, according to the draft, would no longer be allowed to act in a partisan manner neither would they be allowed to pay allegiance to any political party.

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