People Democratic Party (PDP), Bulawayo spokesperson, Fortune Mlalazi has made a passionate appeal to Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo to order Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri to stop traffic officers from turning the city into a “small Syria” by allegedly harassing commuter omnibus crews.
BY SILAS NKALA
Mlalazi’s remarks come after Bulawayo traffic police last Thursday engaged in running battles with kombi crews, after a driver allegedly kidnapped a traffic officer and took him to Basch Street Terminus, populary known as Egodini, where he was reportedly assaulted.
The police officers later reined in on the kombis leading them to flee from Egodini, leaving the rank deserted for the better part of the day. As is the norm, traffic officers in the city mount roadblocks along all main roads leading to the residential areas on a daily basis targeting defiant kombi crews from whom they collect spot fines. These traffic officers have witnessed, at some point, errant drivers running away from roadblocks putting the lives of passengers in danger.
Mlalazi said it was sad that police officers and kombi crews were turning Bulawayo into a war zone.
“The Minister of Home Affairs should call Chihuri and his officers to order,” he said. “Bulawayo can’t be turned into some small Syria.” Police officers have been accused of demanding bribes from defective vehicles drivers and unqualified drivers.
Recently, a Botswana delegation that visited the country to understudy the Zimbabwean leather tanning and allied industries complained about the police’s hostile behaviour along major highways.
The delegation, sponsored by Botswana’s Ngamiland under the United Nations Development Programme, said they were shocked by the hostile behaviour of the police along the country’s roads.
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Basadi Morokotso, a journalist, who was part of the delegation, said her Zimbabwean trip could have been more enjoyable had it not been for police hostility at the countless number of roadblocks they passed through between Mashonaland and Matabeleland provinces.
She said between Harare and Bulawayo alone, they passed through more than 12 roadblocks and numerous tollgates and at all of them; they were shocked by police’s demands to be paid for most unreasonable offences.
Recently, five police officers were arrested in Bulawayo for collecting 50 pula from a kombi conductor at a roadblock, while four traffic officers were nabbed for demanding a $200 bribe from a kombi driver.
The nine are still appearing in court for extortion and bribery.
