It would have been comical if it were not sad that rogue civilians can mount a fake roadblock next to the State House, fleecing motorists of their hard-earned money just a few metres away from the Police General Headquarters as happened some few months back.
guest column: Learnmore Zuze
Many things can be said on the roadblocks chaos engulfing the country, but one sure thing: The force is operating, habitually, without checkpoints, thus, courting enterprising criminals and putting motorists in danger.
The key problem with roadblocks in Zimbabwe is the apparent lack of an operating framework and controls.
It defeats logic how the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) remains tight-lipped and frozen in the face of a rising wave of crimes being committed in the name of roadblocks by either undesignated police officers or outright bogus people profiting from the anarchy and ignorance of what makes a proper roadblock.
The education has not been taken to the people. And by now, surely, a conscionable police force would have rolled out spirited campaigns in the Press, on radio and on television on how the ordinary citizen can identify a genuine roadblock. The current state of affairs clearly points to something gone wrong within the policing system.
The mayhem that has become synonymous with independent Zimbabwe is creeping towards ludicrous levels. No one foresaw a self-governing Zimbabwe becoming a potpourri of the kind of lawlessness we are witnessing.
I recall a statement by the late Joshua Nkomo; a statement that would, ironically, be reflected in his own country long after his departure. Coincidentally, last Sunday marked 17 years after the death of the respected former Vice-President. The man had many harrowing experiences in his decades old political career.
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In The Story of My Life, Nkomo describes a time when he visited India, Bombay, about 10 years after it had attained independence. Stranded for hours, as he waited for a connecting flight, he mentions something that paradoxically rings true for Zimbabwe today.
He wrote (of India), “You could feel the poverty and collapse: independence, I could clearly see, does not of itself cure ordinary people’s problems.”
And true to his observation, an overall look at Zimbabwe today one cannot help, but realise this unpalatable truth. Zimbabwe has become poorer in many respects but most notably economically in independence than under colonisation.
Zimbabwe has more vice in its present autonomous state than it had in bondage. There are many areas where Nkomo’s pregnant observation can be applied in the Zimbabwean context but one area that has actually become a self-evident problem of independence failing to cure the ordinary man’s problems is the vice and terror being endured by motorists on Zimbabwe’s roads.
The police officer himself, the supposed symbol of order and peace, has come to symbolise terror on the roads. No one had envisaged the suffering being borne by Zimbabweans in post independent Zimbabwe. From outright rogues to mercenary and corrupt officers, motorists are on the receiving end.
Bogus police officers continue on the rise, mounting illegal roadblocks and collecting cash from unsuspecting motorists and hardly a week passes without such cases reported. What is worse is the seeming absence of someone to put a stop to this crippling evil afflicting society.
Would one then be wrong to assert that the law enforcement branch is, to an extent, culpable in the fate befalling motorists? The force has a clear constitutional mandate to safeguard and preserve law and order countrywide.
If the necessary controls are not put in place, the problem can only get worse. Once designated points for road blocks are gazetted, even the citizenry can help the police arrest masquerading thugs. But not when the law of the jungle applies.
Last week’s incident where several students were injured in another spike throwing incident doesn’t do well for the reputation of the force.
For long, we have pointed out that no good comes out of the spike, but I digress. The point is that motorists have lost and continue to lose valuables to enterprising criminals in law enforcement robes. The police have a duty to protect both the people and its name being soiled by criminals. Something should be done as a matter of urgency. Foremost, acting sincerely, the ZRP must educate the public on these critical issues.
As things stand, given the submission typical of Zimbabweans, it would be shocking to realize the total amounts that have been lost to this criminal activity left to flourish throughout the country. Even police officers who are not traffic officers have taken it upon themselves to line their pockets profiting from the loop-hole laden system and the fatal silence.
Identifying genuine traffic police officers is likely to be difficult for motorists as it emerged that expelled policemen and unscrupulous people were also mounting illegal roadblocks using spikes to collect cash from unsuspecting people.
It was a few months ago when some totally fake police officers, with nerves of steel though, had the boldness to mount a bogus roadblock near State House; robbing innocent citizens’ right a few steps away from the Head of State’s official residence.
This does not inspire confidence at all. Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba was once quoted as having said: “We are fully aware of the machinations of some unscrupulous elements who have formed a Fifth Column that masquerades as police, conducting illegal roadblocks, using spikes and collecting money for themselves. These elements include disgruntled expelled members of the ZRP.”
But now, what use is it to believe that one is against something yet in letter and spirit the mayhem continues? Words alone are not enough. Act please.
Learnmore Zuze is a law officer and writes in his own capacity. E-mail: [email protected]
