MDC Member of Parliament for Tsholotsho South, Maxwell Dube, was manhandled by police on Tuesday following a misunderstanding over parking in Gweru.
Report By Wonai Masvingise, Senior Reporter
Dube is a member of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion which is going around the country holding consultative meetings on the 2013 National Budget.
The MP was manhandled just before the consultative meeting in the midlands capital by three police officers who had mistaken a minibus which the parliamentarians were travelling in for one of the vehicles that illegally pick and drop hikers along the Gweru- Bulawayo Highway.
Dube had accused the police officers of approaching the minibus with an intention to get a bribe, attracting the wrath of one of the police officers who grabbed and dragged him by the belt in full view of the public, including this reporter.
The legislator said the incident, which he described as typical police behaviour, brought to the fore the need to train the law enforcement agents on how to treat the public professionally.
“These police officers showed a high level of unprofessionalism. How do you victimise someone without verifying the allegations levelled against them? They just manhandled me without verifying the allegations that were levelled against me. I was treated like a common criminal,” Dube said.
