LEGISLATORS have proposed that the powers of the police be curtailed further beyond changes suggested in the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) Amendment Bill, which is currently before Parliament.

A report presented to the House of Assembly on Thursday said MPs conducted public hearings in all the country's provinces, except Mashonaland Central, and Zimbabweans overwhelmingly said they want the powers of the police to be further reduced.

In January, Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Melusi Matshiya appeared before the parliamentary committee on Home Affairs to oppose changes to the law which he said would compromise state security.

But during the hearings, Zimbabweans disputed that and called for even more far-reaching changes, according to the parliamentary report.

“Your Committee has made the following recommendations: The Act be reviewed beyond the current Bill as proposed by the mover to ensure that it is user friendly; the proposed amendments by members of the public be incorporated into the Bill," said the report.

“The powers currently reposed in the police should be reviewed and generally curtailed and that some of them should be moved to the courts which are more independent and objective. That the discretion which the police have on matters affecting fundamental rights be reviewed as they have tended to use the principal Act selectively and without objectivity."

The MPs added that POSA should be renamed to reflect a democratic and tolerant Zimbabwe. They added that there is need for police to undergo intensive training in human rights issues.

The MDC-T’s parliamentary whip Innocent Gonese, who crafted the proposed law and introduced it to Parliament through a Private Members Bill, said it was necessary to amend the law because so far no-one has been convicted by the courts for violating POSA , despite the police making thousands of arrests.

Gonese said: “The way the police regard POSA is that it is a very serious offence such that someone who is charged is brought to court in leg irons as if he is a dangerous criminal.

“If you look at the police officers who accompany the person to court, they will be carrying their guns and you would think that person is an armed robber or a hijacker, when in fact, what that person would have done is not to have notified that he /she would hold a public meeting.”