On 23 March 2007, the then president Mugabe said he hoped the opposition had learned that violence did not pay following the police crackdown on disturbances that were supposedly sponsored by the opposition MDC party and some sections of the civic society. He said: “Our arms of Government, the police will act very vigorously and severely on those who go on a defiance campaign. We hope they have learnt a lesson. If they have not, then they will get similar treatment”. In April 2006, Didymus Mutasa, the then State Security Minister had said: “We will not fold our arms while the country burns. Organs of security are there to maintain security and no sane government in this world will keep its security organs in the camps while some mischievous elements destabilize the country, even threatening to remove a democratically elected government by force.” In September 2006, speaking about the police beatings of the trade union ZCTU leaders who had engaged in peaceful public demonstration, president Mugabe said: “We can't have that; that is a revolt to the system. Others are crying that we were beaten up, yes you would be beaten up. When they police say move, move. If you don't move, you invite the police to use force.” (The Herald, 25 September 2006). After a SADC Summit in Tanzania on 30 March 2007 the then president Mugabe said: “Yes, I told them he was beaten but he asked for it. We got full backing, not even one (leader) criticized our actions. I told the police, beat him a lot”. He and his MDC must stop their terrorist activities”.⁴¹ In a report after a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe in June 2002, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights condemned the ZRP's partisan stance and its routine abuse of human rights. The Commission noted that the Law and Order Unit was the worst culprit and called for it to be disbanded. It said that the unit seemed to "operate under political instructions and without accountability to the ZRP command structures,” and urged Zimbabwe to "avoid any further politicization of the police service." Toxic police culture, sub cultures The Forum has researched on the police culture and sub cultures that perpetuate human rights violations, rogue policing, cover-ups and criminal behavior by police units. According to general trends analyzed by the Forum in the police, there is a level of “comradeship” where members of the police cover up for each other for wrongdoing and generally encourage each other to implement whatever force or tools as would help to accomplish a task. For example, when members of the police are asked to disperse a demonstrating crowd, they usually resort to the use of force and in some instances torture individuals who they would have arrested. To make sure they are not traced, the police officers usually ⁴¹ Sunday Herald UK 31 March 2007. 20 Anti-Impunity Report