POLICE were last week ordered to compensate six villagers from the Chinyamukwakwa area, Chipinge, for assault during a misunderstanding with the ethanol-producing company Green Fuel in 2015.
BY OBEY MANAYITI
The six are Samson Mugovera, Vaina Ndhlovu, Mugovera Makaza, Chipo Shiripinda, Maxwell Mtisi and Eddie Maberere.
They were awarded $500 each for the pain and suffering while Ndlovu was awarded an additional $901,80 for medical expenses, Muyambo $735 and Shiripinda $60.
In his judgment, magistrate Poterai Gwezhira also ordered the defendants, one officer Mazarura, Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo and Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri (pictured) to meet the legal costs of the suit.
Circumstances into the matter were that on January 6, 2015, police rounded up the farmers who were tilling their land before assaulting them.
They were accused of interfering and encroaching into the disputed land which is also claimed by Green Fuel.
After identifying themselves as officers from the Support Unit, they then assaulted the villagers indiscriminately with batons leaving some with various injuries.
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The victims argued through their lawyer Langton Mhungu that police had no right to act in the manner they did.
Meanwhile, the Platform for Youth Development (PYD), which has been fighting for the community’s rights in terms of land and relations with Green Fuel, applauded the judgment saying both the ethanol producing company and the villagers need dialogue to live harmoniously.
“We have been vindicated against the police officers who take the law into their own hands without considering that villagers have rights. As a pressure group, we are guided by the Constitution and will continue to target individual police officers who abuse their power and summon them to remind them to respect the ZRP Charter,” PYD director Claris Madhuku said.
Madhuku said there were a lot of unresolved issues involving harassment of villagers by law enforcement agents in the Chinyamukwakwa and Chisumbanje areas over land.
