THE team leader of three Chiredzi police officers, who last year arrested and detained freelance photojournalist, Dumisani Zvandasara for taking pictures of them carrying out private business at a roadblock, has been charged.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
The officer, only identified as a Sergeant Mutepfa, who was in the company of constables Mwatsiya and Mupepeyapi at the roadblock, is now due for disciplinary action over Zvandasara’s detention, after the journalist filed an official complaint through the Anti–Corruption Trust of Southern Africa.
In a letter to Zvandasara signed by the Officer Commanding Chiredzi district, Chief Superintendent Peter Magwenzi, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) said its officers had acted improperly and would be charged.
“Reference is being made to a complaint you made on March 25, 2016 at ZRP Police General Headquarters against the police officers. Investigations instituted into the case revealed that Sergeant Mutepfa performed duty in an improper manner, hence, corrective measures are being taken against him,” reads part of the letter delivered to Zvandasara last week.
Magwenzi did not mention the corrective action to be taken against Mutepfa.
Last year, Mwatsiya charged Zvandasara, who is accredited by the Zimbabwe Media Commission, with contravening section 46 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act and listed the offence as taking a picture at a police checkpoint.
This was after he saw the police officers carrying out private business at the spot, leaving motorists, they had stopped by the roadside stranded.
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The officers were busy entertaining a saleslady from Golden Knot Legal Aid, who was selling insurance cover, right in the middle of the road.
“I saw a picture opportunity to tell a national story about abuse of office and I was arrested for that,” Zvandasara said.
He paid a fine of $20 on the advice of his lawyer, Ross Chavi in a bid to avoid spending the night in police cells after being detained at the police station for more than four hours.
The officers also forced him to delete the pictures from his camera, but owing to digital technology, these were easily recovered from the cloud platform.
