ALTHOUGH the government’s decision to re-look the issue of roadblocks, which has become a major concern to motorists and tourists because of their frequency, with a view to reducing the numbers was a welcome move, reducing them to just 40 countrywide does not make any sense at all.
Comment: NewsDay Editor
One is tempted to think that perhaps not much thought was put into the decision while, on the other hand, the members of the Dexter Nduna-led Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs before whom Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo explained this development were caught flat-footed.
When you do simple, basic mathematics, you will realise that Harare alone has five major highways. Essentially what this means is that many other roads will not be manned by police officers at all.
It would perhaps have made sense if government had suggested having a roadblock after every 50km.
Having just four police blockades in every province defeats the purpose of having traffic police officers and one is bound to feel that the parliamentarians before whom Chombo appeared allowed him to get away with murder. They should have pressed him for a plausible explanation!
Our fear is that perhaps the parliamentarians have also become too disturbed by the very high numbers of roadblocks that they sighed with relief at the figure of 40, but this looks like the pendulum has simply swung to the other end.
There was need to strike a balance. Police checkpoints on the road, if done properly and professionally, are a necessity.
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Understandably, most of the roadblocks were unnecessary given that you could find as many as three within a radius of less than 10km and in some instances, motorists have been penalised for just one problem at every roadblock.
Commuter omnibus operators have raised concern that some of the officers manning some of the roadblocks refused to recognise tickets issued by their colleagues at another blockade in the same road and issued yet another for the same defect.
This probably meant that perhaps some of the roadblocks were illegal and the weeding out of some of the police officers responsible is encouraging. Having said that, however, there may be need to re-look this decision and ensure that it is rationalised.
