Readers' reaction to police harassment

Last week, we ran a story on the frequency and spacing of road blocks and the seemingly extortionate behaviour of the police at these road blocks. The story, which was widely received, drew mixed reactions from our readers. Below is a selection of the comments that came through the comments' section on our website.

Tough game. I also encountered the police in Hatfield yesterday and spent time at Hatfield Police station. It is just fund-raising. I insisted on paying later but even at the police station they said they don't have anything like that - it is pay now or go to court whilst leaving your vehicle at the police station. You cannot pay at another police station also because zvepano ndezve pano. The Honourable Minister (of Home Affairs) said something about spot fines but the police just don't care. Ndivo vari kutotitonga. As long as these guys are not remitting their revenues to Treasury, this sham will continue. - Garikai Chivasa

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So what should we do about it? You have written about it, then what? The police don't give a hoot about your little article, in fact they will probably be laughing their lungs out kuti takamugadzirisa anofunga kuti zvinoshamisira kuti ndireporter! Even during the Smith regime the police were not as brazenly unreasonable as this. People are now fed up by the police and it is sad that the police hierarchy are not doing anything to address this. - Tinashe

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An educated person is one who can tell between right and wrong. These sort of issues have been highlighted for several years and have never found space in the State media. Way back in 2004 Mukanya sang "Disaster" and we are only just waking up to the reality of corruption in our country. Evil triumphs when good people choose to do nothing. What we are seeing today is the result of years of corruption which is out of control because the judicial system has been decimated and packed with corrupt cronies. Sorry about your experience, welcome to the real world. When people say you should stand up for what is right, they are saying let us work together to prevent these sort of social ills.- Jojo

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I once approached a roadblock towards Kwekwe and as the officer was about to stop me, a Merdeces Benz driver overtook me, almost side-swiping me as he dodged their road block and to my surprise I was stopped and interrogated for not having honeycomb reflectors but I was bitter as I questioned them why they hadn't pursued the dangerous driver who almost dented my car and rammed the police drum. I was told that it was his wish to die, "ibenzi". But then, isn't it our police is supposed to be stopping these dangerous drivers instead of charging the law-abiding drivers? I would have thought that if the law says pay $10 then it can never be $5 … in short, we are being robbed. - Boss K

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The police in Zimbabwe are a nightmare. Instead of focusing on real criminals and kombi drivers who are driving recklessly dicing with people's lives, they focus on the compliant drivers. In this age where one does not have ready cash because it is a problem they still insist you pay. I had an encounter with them on the Chitungwiza road, I asked to go and get some money they refused, I asked to stay and my brother and my sister go look for the money they refused.

They wanted us to leave the car. My other brother walked to get some cash from a mobile cash service and only managed to get $15 they refused. The sergeant at the road block had the audacity to call us "madofo".

We had to call another policeman from Harare Central (police station) to talk to them to accept the $15. They said we don't care that there is no money, that's your problem. What I want to know is, what is the duty of a policeman? A couple of months back it was announced that you should not leave your licence with the police, you can get a ticket and pay within seven days, and they cannot impound your vehicle.

Can someone tell me what the law says because when I asked the police to show me the law where it is written that they can impound my car over a $20 fine they said they just have power to do that, they cannot show me where it is. In light of the problems we have with cash, they must invest in point-of-sale machines but they would not like it because they will not have "cash".

I feel I am so oppressed in my country which I thought was a sovereign state and we were set free from colonialists. Our own police have become the oppressors. If we look at what we saw growing up, is that a roadblock should have signs to warn motorists that there is road block ahead, asking motorists to reduce speed to 90km/hr, 60km/hr, 30km/hr and stop at the painted drums but none of that is happening at the roadblocks these days. Can they abide by the law first and then caution motorists? Can someone enlighten us on what the law says? - Oppressed

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I can totally relate to this. I was also once fined for third plate violation and I asked the officer if she could write a ticket for me to pay within seven days since everything else on my car was in check. She refused, she said I had to pay $20 or else leave my car there. I think the traffic laws in Zimbabwe are designed to make motorists as "fineable" as possible. I am in Turkey and here you are not even required to stick anything on your car. No windscreen stickers, no additional reflectors, and the police are not out to raise money like our fellow Zimbabwean police, they are out to catch criminals! - Tendekayi

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I dont understand, in Gweru they were busy writing tickets a few metres away from where someone had bumped into my car but they refused totally to assist me and were telling me to go either to the charge office or the bus rank since they were busy looking for people who were going through red robots. I now don't understand if their job is to assist and protect us or theirs is to just write tickets? - Norbert

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Although I sympathise with your plight but I have problems when you take your readers for a ride. You said: "My friend had gone. I didn't have money, even for a kombi, to take me back to the road block." But earlier on you had said: "Three hours later, $20 in my pocket, I headed back to the road block. Imagine my astonishment when I was told that the fine had somehow reduced to $15. This was after I told Sgt Chagweda that I had found $15." To me it means you finally paid $15 instead of $20 and you can't tell me that you right away gave back the $5 change to the person who had given you the money. These are the small loopholes that spoil the whole story as fabrication. I am not disputing the fact that some officers stick to the book without using their discretion to warn and caution but you should also play your part of telling the whole truth without spicing it up. - Kondozi

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(Editor's Note: It would have been pointless and insignificant to mention every detail of the ordeal, suffice to say that the $5 was offered as "lunch" to the friend for the ride to the roadblock).