A 23-YEAR-OLD commuter omnibus tout died under unclear circumstances yesterday morning shortly after he was arrested and taken to a police post at Mbudzi bus terminus along the Harare-Masvingo Road.
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Fellow touts told NewsDay that they suspected the deceased, identified as Sifo Chodewa, was beaten to death by police officers, although an unidentified police officer at the scene claimed that the tout had allegedly hanged himself using shoestrings.
Listen to witness accounts below:
Chodewa was arrested for touting.
When NewsDay arrived at Mbudzi Police Base along the Harare-Masvingo Highway shortly after midday, cops in riot gear were seen chasing away people who had gathered to catch a glimpse of the corpse while it was being removed from the police post.
The touts queried the cops’ version that Chodewa had committed suicide, arguing that the police base had no holding cell and that all suspects were normally detained inside a fence.
Harare provincial police spokesperson Inspector Tadius Chibanda yesterday confirmed the incident, but referred NewsDay to Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi for further details.
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However, Nyathi’s mobile phone went unanswered.
Witnesses said Chodewa was arrested by the police while touting for Mhondoro-bound vehicles.
“We saw him buying a drink and buns from a lady vendor and soon afterwards he started calling for passengers to board a commuter omnibus heading to Mhondoro,” a tout who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity said.
“Suddenly, we saw some neighbourhood watch police details pouncing on him and they started to beat him up before taking him to the police base at Mbudzi. Of course, we could not see what transpired while he was inside the wooden cabin at the police base, but what really baffled us was that after a period of about 15 minutes, we heard that he was dead allegedly having hanged himself inside the cabin using a shoestring.”
Another tout said Chodewa was often arrested by police for touting and thrown into the fenced area.
“That he died due to hanging himself using a shoestring is suspicious because he had never exhibited any suicidal tendencies as he had been arrested on several occasions prior to his death. The police normally put an arrested person inside a fenced area and we are surprised why they chose to lock him inside,” he said.
A male vegetable vendor said he had witnessed the neighbourhood police details beating up touts very often in the area and it was not the first incident where a tout was badly beaten up.
“They [neighbourhood watch police] often beat up touts. I do not know if they are allowed to do duties of monitoring commuter omnibuses. We have seen them taking bribes from people. It is very scaring that police are no longer protecting people and that an arrested person can easily die in police custody,” the vendor said.
Another vendor said she saw Chodewa quarrelling with another man whom he accused of being shabby before he was arrested.
