MASVINGO — A Chingwizi villager, who was acquitted of public violence charges in July, has successfully sued Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo and Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, with a magistrate granting him $550 compensation in damages for wrongful arrest.
By Tatenda Chitagu
Initially, Zulu Jinya, through his lawyers, Peggy Tavagadza and Blessing Nyamaropa, had claimed $3 000 compensation for trauma, pain and suffering, but Chiredzi magistrate Tafadzwa Mhlanga yesterday trimmed the amount down to $550.
In his ruling, Mhlanga blasted the police for torturing suspects during interrogation.
Mhlanga said there was no reasonable suspicion that Jinya had committed the offence.
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Jinya, an internally displaced person (IDP) living in Nuanetsi Ranch in Mwenezi, was arrested in August 2014 together with 300 other villagers and charged with committing public violence following an alleged mutiny at the transit camp.
This followed riots over the planned relocation of Chingwizi transit camp clinic to Nuanetsi Ranch as part of government efforts to force the 18 000 Tokwe Mukosi Dam flooding survivors to move to the new site.
Two police vehicles were torched by the angry villagers, an incident that eventually sparked their forced relocation without compensation. Five other villagers were convicted and slapped with four-year jail terms each.
They are, however, appealing against both sentence and conviction.
Jinya’s court victory is likely to open floodgates of lawsuits against government and police, as 34 other villagers, including a one-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy have also approached the courts claiming payment of $3 000 each for damages over unlawful arrest and detention.
The girl’s mother claims her daughter was denied access to diapers for 48 hours during their detention, while the 10-year-old boy says police set dogs and injured him during the skirmishes.