Opinion / Columnist
Zimbabwe police a law unto themselves
07 Apr 2015 at 09:04hrs | Views
IT is the usual scene on the country's roads: police roadblocks and check points. On this particular morning it is along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway that the following scenario takes place.
It is a check point manned by two police officers as an inter-city coach approaches and is signalled by one of the police officers to stop.
The driver duly does likewise. However, the bus stops right in the middle of the road, perhaps expecting a cursory inspection of the vehicle. Instead, the officer commands, "Parka apo," pointing to the roadside.
The driver, very much conscious of what he was doing and why he was doing it, proceeds and brings the bus to a stop some 40 to 50 metres away from the spot indicated by the officer.
The officer is clearly not amused by that. The two of them trot after the bus. Then the show or, rather a war of words, starts characterised by fire and fury what with expletives being the stock-in-trade of verbal exchanges.
The police were quick to point at the tyre which they deemed as "unroadworthy" and it attracted a "ticket" (a spot fine). Not only that, the tyre needed replacing. The crew, especially the driver, would have none of that, at least not without driving home to the officers that all the six tyres of the vehicle were new, as could be clearly seen.
The "defect" was not in any way indicative of an old and worn-out tyre but was nipped or clipped off by the damaged shoulders of the tar. This is the reason why, explained the driver while the other two members of the crew nodded in concurrence. The defect is on the edge of the tyre and not on the treads.
The driver explained further, that it was for fear of damaging the tyres that he did not park the vehicle where the officer had indicated in the first place and that as long as the police mounted their check points where roads are damaged, he shall not be obliged to park anywhere else but in the middle of the lane.
Bus companies are incurring unnecessary costs by frequent replacement of tyres which directly result from damaged roads. And believe it or not, wherever there is a road block or check point, the road is sure to be chipped or completely damaged on the edge because of the sheer weight of the heavy vehicles which stop there.
The bus crew pulled out all the stops accusing the police of fund raising and operating as if they are omnibus (kombi) operators who set targets for their drivers. One officer tried to employ the old fashioned threat of arrest but was summarily shot down with facts. The crew acceded to the issuance of a spot fine ticket "because that is where your up keep comes from".
I stuck my head out through the window to lend the crew moral support for their admirable and defensible stance. When I disembarked, I made an "inspection" of the concerned tyre and observed that it was as brand spanking new as it could possibly be. Furthermore, and many a passenger would agree with me on this one, that particular bus company is one the best (if not the best outright) bus companies in the country. Customer care is the company's motto. The owners are extremely religious. A trip without a prayer by a free (ozizwa ekhululekile) does not begin. The company puts God ahead of profitability. The company believes that without God's protection (reads blessings) your new tyres and your whole new coach counts for absolutely zero.
It's common cause to the readers of the press, both public and private, that the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has been in the news for some considerable time now for all the wrong reasons. It is high time that the institution ceased to be a law unto itself.
The ZRP is there to fulfil its mandate of upholding the law as enshrined in the country's constitution. As things stand presently, the ZRP to all intents and purposes seems to have veered off course and is operating pretty much as a loose cannon. As a social commentator, I have an obligation, albeit unmandated, to speak on behalf of the general public. To elaborate on my penultimate remarks.
The ZRP once referred to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) boss, Gershem Pasi, as a "failure and a purveyor of falsehoods". All because the former had made known to the public his concern about the latter's system of collecting spot fines from offending motorists and keeping it without surrendering some of it to the revenue authority. Pasi had dared to raise the germane and poignant point that since the ZRP was operating as a commercial entity it should pay tax. He was right, was he not? The question of accountability and transparency also came into focus very sharply, except to those who refuse to see, the ZRP saw red and reacted unprofessionally, undiplomatically and subjectively as if Pasi was picador waving a red cloth in a Spanish bull ring fight.
The ZRP authorities failed to justify to the public their system and its modus operandi preferring to pull down the shutters by uncalled for aggressiveness. If the government made a comment on this one, as it should have done obligatorily or even as a matter of duty, I missed it. This is a very serious matter which calls for government clarification if not intervention. If the government chooses to remain taciturn and reticent then the public will be forgiven for suspecting or even accusing it of being complicit to the system employed by the ZRP to deal with traffic offences on the roads. I am not going to talk about corruption. We have talked about this several times already.
I would like to highlight the repercussive and negative impact to the national economy resulting from the ubiquitous presence of police roadblocks and check points. It has to be understood quite clearly that the ZRP is not a productive sector and therefore it depends entirely on government budgetary allocations to fund its operations. It becomes absolutely imperative that revenue "generated" by virtue of its operations be surrendered to Zimra. This is both for accountability and transparency as it is for auditing by the Auditor General (Part 5 Constitution of Zimbabwe).
Zimra comes in as does the Zimbabwe National Road Authority (Zinara). Zimra is the national purse-keeper and its distributive role is fundamentally crucial. The ZRP presence on national roads and the justification and necessity thereof are clearly over-exaggerated. The officers throughout the network stop the same haulage truck and bus to ask for driver's licence from the same driver from the Victoria Falls to Mutare. Surely this is crazy. It is madness. These delays unnecessarily prolong the turn-around times of the vehicles and thereby slowing down the wheels of the national economy. The haulage trucks especially are not on safari excursions. They convey goods that are vital to the national economy and this requires maximum expeditiousness. The passengers on the buses are on business as well. They are not fun seekers. At this point I would like to proffer a suggestion which I believe is highly workable. I should know better because I am an ex-NRZ employee who was exclusively concerned with traffic conveyance and movement. The haulage trucks conveying coal can be cleared by the police ex-departing point (Hwange); those from Victoria Falls ex-point of departure (Victoria Falls).
The system or method can then be replicated throughout the road network. Radio communication systems can be established between the police details manning the check points or roadblocks at entry and departure points and the need for intermediate check points will be obviated. This method will result in the expeditious movement of goods and materials which are vital to the national economy and the wheels of the economy will turn faster corresponding to the rate of speed at which the goods are transported. We have to take cognisance of the fact that with the demise (yes, demise) of the national bulk carrier, the National Railways of Zimbabwe, road transport is the only means left for the transportation of goods that are vital and strategic to the national economy. What the ZRP is doing is counter if not anti-developmental. In fact, I might as well add that the behaviour of both the ZRP and Zimra is akin to that of the mafia, which is that of competing for space where business is lucrative there is a war of extermination. In this regard Zimra itself has an inveterate propensity to raid establishments. And so when the ZRP withholds its takings from Zimra one would say that the ZRP is giving Zimra a dose of its own medicine.
However, it has to be emphasised that the ZRP is creating a vicious cycle of problems. For starters, it has turned check points and roadblocks into permanent structures on the roads when they should be resorted to only when exigency and need so demands. These structures are causing damage to the roads as point-pointed by the bus crew cited above. Zinara is finding it difficult to fund the repairs of the national road network.
Where there is a permanent check point or road block, the road is damaged on the shoulders as mentioned above. This is in addition to the delays incurred by the trucks. This is a vicious cycle which should not be there in the first place.
It is detrimental to the economy.
It is a check point manned by two police officers as an inter-city coach approaches and is signalled by one of the police officers to stop.
The driver duly does likewise. However, the bus stops right in the middle of the road, perhaps expecting a cursory inspection of the vehicle. Instead, the officer commands, "Parka apo," pointing to the roadside.
The driver, very much conscious of what he was doing and why he was doing it, proceeds and brings the bus to a stop some 40 to 50 metres away from the spot indicated by the officer.
The officer is clearly not amused by that. The two of them trot after the bus. Then the show or, rather a war of words, starts characterised by fire and fury what with expletives being the stock-in-trade of verbal exchanges.
The police were quick to point at the tyre which they deemed as "unroadworthy" and it attracted a "ticket" (a spot fine). Not only that, the tyre needed replacing. The crew, especially the driver, would have none of that, at least not without driving home to the officers that all the six tyres of the vehicle were new, as could be clearly seen.
The "defect" was not in any way indicative of an old and worn-out tyre but was nipped or clipped off by the damaged shoulders of the tar. This is the reason why, explained the driver while the other two members of the crew nodded in concurrence. The defect is on the edge of the tyre and not on the treads.
The driver explained further, that it was for fear of damaging the tyres that he did not park the vehicle where the officer had indicated in the first place and that as long as the police mounted their check points where roads are damaged, he shall not be obliged to park anywhere else but in the middle of the lane.
Bus companies are incurring unnecessary costs by frequent replacement of tyres which directly result from damaged roads. And believe it or not, wherever there is a road block or check point, the road is sure to be chipped or completely damaged on the edge because of the sheer weight of the heavy vehicles which stop there.
The bus crew pulled out all the stops accusing the police of fund raising and operating as if they are omnibus (kombi) operators who set targets for their drivers. One officer tried to employ the old fashioned threat of arrest but was summarily shot down with facts. The crew acceded to the issuance of a spot fine ticket "because that is where your up keep comes from".
I stuck my head out through the window to lend the crew moral support for their admirable and defensible stance. When I disembarked, I made an "inspection" of the concerned tyre and observed that it was as brand spanking new as it could possibly be. Furthermore, and many a passenger would agree with me on this one, that particular bus company is one the best (if not the best outright) bus companies in the country. Customer care is the company's motto. The owners are extremely religious. A trip without a prayer by a free (ozizwa ekhululekile) does not begin. The company puts God ahead of profitability. The company believes that without God's protection (reads blessings) your new tyres and your whole new coach counts for absolutely zero.
It's common cause to the readers of the press, both public and private, that the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has been in the news for some considerable time now for all the wrong reasons. It is high time that the institution ceased to be a law unto itself.
The ZRP is there to fulfil its mandate of upholding the law as enshrined in the country's constitution. As things stand presently, the ZRP to all intents and purposes seems to have veered off course and is operating pretty much as a loose cannon. As a social commentator, I have an obligation, albeit unmandated, to speak on behalf of the general public. To elaborate on my penultimate remarks.
The ZRP once referred to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) boss, Gershem Pasi, as a "failure and a purveyor of falsehoods". All because the former had made known to the public his concern about the latter's system of collecting spot fines from offending motorists and keeping it without surrendering some of it to the revenue authority. Pasi had dared to raise the germane and poignant point that since the ZRP was operating as a commercial entity it should pay tax. He was right, was he not? The question of accountability and transparency also came into focus very sharply, except to those who refuse to see, the ZRP saw red and reacted unprofessionally, undiplomatically and subjectively as if Pasi was picador waving a red cloth in a Spanish bull ring fight.
The ZRP authorities failed to justify to the public their system and its modus operandi preferring to pull down the shutters by uncalled for aggressiveness. If the government made a comment on this one, as it should have done obligatorily or even as a matter of duty, I missed it. This is a very serious matter which calls for government clarification if not intervention. If the government chooses to remain taciturn and reticent then the public will be forgiven for suspecting or even accusing it of being complicit to the system employed by the ZRP to deal with traffic offences on the roads. I am not going to talk about corruption. We have talked about this several times already.
I would like to highlight the repercussive and negative impact to the national economy resulting from the ubiquitous presence of police roadblocks and check points. It has to be understood quite clearly that the ZRP is not a productive sector and therefore it depends entirely on government budgetary allocations to fund its operations. It becomes absolutely imperative that revenue "generated" by virtue of its operations be surrendered to Zimra. This is both for accountability and transparency as it is for auditing by the Auditor General (Part 5 Constitution of Zimbabwe).
Zimra comes in as does the Zimbabwe National Road Authority (Zinara). Zimra is the national purse-keeper and its distributive role is fundamentally crucial. The ZRP presence on national roads and the justification and necessity thereof are clearly over-exaggerated. The officers throughout the network stop the same haulage truck and bus to ask for driver's licence from the same driver from the Victoria Falls to Mutare. Surely this is crazy. It is madness. These delays unnecessarily prolong the turn-around times of the vehicles and thereby slowing down the wheels of the national economy. The haulage trucks especially are not on safari excursions. They convey goods that are vital to the national economy and this requires maximum expeditiousness. The passengers on the buses are on business as well. They are not fun seekers. At this point I would like to proffer a suggestion which I believe is highly workable. I should know better because I am an ex-NRZ employee who was exclusively concerned with traffic conveyance and movement. The haulage trucks conveying coal can be cleared by the police ex-departing point (Hwange); those from Victoria Falls ex-point of departure (Victoria Falls).
The system or method can then be replicated throughout the road network. Radio communication systems can be established between the police details manning the check points or roadblocks at entry and departure points and the need for intermediate check points will be obviated. This method will result in the expeditious movement of goods and materials which are vital to the national economy and the wheels of the economy will turn faster corresponding to the rate of speed at which the goods are transported. We have to take cognisance of the fact that with the demise (yes, demise) of the national bulk carrier, the National Railways of Zimbabwe, road transport is the only means left for the transportation of goods that are vital and strategic to the national economy. What the ZRP is doing is counter if not anti-developmental. In fact, I might as well add that the behaviour of both the ZRP and Zimra is akin to that of the mafia, which is that of competing for space where business is lucrative there is a war of extermination. In this regard Zimra itself has an inveterate propensity to raid establishments. And so when the ZRP withholds its takings from Zimra one would say that the ZRP is giving Zimra a dose of its own medicine.
However, it has to be emphasised that the ZRP is creating a vicious cycle of problems. For starters, it has turned check points and roadblocks into permanent structures on the roads when they should be resorted to only when exigency and need so demands. These structures are causing damage to the roads as point-pointed by the bus crew cited above. Zinara is finding it difficult to fund the repairs of the national road network.
Where there is a permanent check point or road block, the road is damaged on the shoulders as mentioned above. This is in addition to the delays incurred by the trucks. This is a vicious cycle which should not be there in the first place.
It is detrimental to the economy.
Source - chronicle
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