Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi also defended patriotism lessons for junior officers and said promotion of ex-combatants in the police force was "a way of rewarding them for standing by the government in these trying times, when traitors have infiltrated the uniformed forces. There is no going back on that and they really will be promoted soon."26 There are undoubtedly some members of the police force who would like to be able to perform their duties on an apolitical professional basis. There are, however, severe pressures upon them to behave in a politically biased fashion. Like magistrates and prosecutors, they may be subject to severe reprisals from war veterans and members of the youth militia if they take any action perceived to be antithetical to the interests of the ruling party.27 Prior to the June 2000 General Election, there were many instances when the police turned a blind eye to violence being perpetrated against MDC supporters and white farmers. The excuse used for non-intervention in cases involving white farmers was either that it was a political matter, which they could not get involved in, or that they did not have transport to attend the scene. Although some members of the force tried to continue to carry out their duties professionally on a politically neutral basis, there are numerous cases in which the police have failed to intervene or to investigate murder, rape, torture or the destruction of property by the “war veterans”. In Marondera, during the lead up to the 2000 Parliamentary elections, a number of white farmers were even abducted from a police station, and one of them killed by “war veterans”. After the 2000 election, the police force became increasingly partisan in favour of the ruling party. Police and army personnel attacked people in urban areas to punish them for voting for the MDC. Selective enforcement of the law has become the norm, with the police arresting anyone connected with the MDC for offences such inciting or committing public violence, but ignoring similar offences committed by ZANU (PF) supporters.28 In the lead up to the Presidential elections, the MDC alleged that the police frequently arrested their polling agents and party officials on spurious charges in order to disrupt their election campaign. They made similar accusations in the lead up to local council elections held at the end 26 “Mugabe promotes war veterans, sends junior police officers to patriotism classes” Zim Online 30 March 2006. 27 One example of this is a Daily News report on 2 September 2002 describing how two recently graduated members of the youth brigade beat up a police officer at Harare Central Police Station after they had been arrested on charges of theft and violence. 28 See Appendix 3 for some specific examples of the police ignoring serious crimes committed against opponents of government. Who guards the guards? Violations by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, 2000 to 2006