MUTARE — A junior officer died while several others were injured when a police bus carrying 53 police driving instructors returning from a refresher course was involved in a road accident in Vumba last Friday.
STAFF REPORTERS
Although police in Mutare declined to comment on the matter referring all questions to their superiors in Harare, sources said the driver lost control after the bus developed brake failure. It then veered off the road and overturned.
The accident occurred at around 2:20pm as the driver was negotiating a steep slope along Vumba Road.
Constable Lillian Makonese, who died in the accident, was due to be buried at her rural home in Gokwe yesterday, while those injured were given 14 days each to rest at their homes.
Sources who were travelling on the bus, an Isuzu, registration number ZRP 0278, told NewsDay that the bus was in a state of disrepair.
“Most police vehicles are a danger both to those who use them and other road users. The vehicles are not subjected to routine checks at roadblocks like this bus we were travelling in,” said another source.
Deputy Commissioner-General Levy Sibanda is reported to have travelled to Mutare where he paid his respects to the deceased officer before the injured were transferred from Mutare General Hospital to Chikurubi Camp Hospital in Harare.
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Efforts to get official comment from police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba were fruitless.
The police instructors who were involved in the accident had been drawn from Harare and Bulawayo police driving schools.
