The two men scrap the dry surface to get the last shovel loads of earth needed to finish the job.
REPORT BY TAPIWA ZIVIRA
Their voices are laced with pain and sorrow so intense it sounds like a direct appeal to God to wake the three-year old Neil Tanatswa Mutyora. Unfortunately, as fate has it, Neil is never going to wake up as the fresh wreath-decorated mound of the sandy Granville soil is his new permanent home.
The innocent boy is the latest victim of the confrontations between traffic police and commuter omnibus crews; he was run over by a commuter omnibus that was fleeing from police on Tuesday. Neil’s father, Cuthbert, shakes his head, takes a look at the grave and sheds a tear, refusing to blame the driver for the death of his son and points his finger at the police. Cuthbert speaks in this video He declares his intentions to boycott the court sessions if the driver- who has since been arrested and charged with culpable homicide – is not jointly charged with the police officer who was allegedly chasing the commuter omnibus when the incident occurred.
“Without the police who caused this there is no justice and I will not be at the court. They killed my light, my future and son as senselessly as they have done others in their bid for bribe money.”In a country with a closed public sphere and a fear to speak out, people openly talked about the injustice and brutality of “a police force without people at heart.” An aggrieved neighbour to the Mutyoras blamed the police for prioritising the wrong issues:
“In Rugare a 10 year old was raped and most recently a body was found. There was nothing these police officers did to arrest the offenders. Do you see how they all want to work in the traffic division? It is clear why. Money is the problem. Bribe money is the problem.”Meanwhile, as the Mutyora family laid the wreaths and performed the last burial rituals, police were issuing a statement in response to NewsDay‘s for its coverage of the accident.
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“This follows a front page article headlined “Chihuri you’re responsible” by the NewsDay’s Staff Reporter and The editorial comment titled ‘Child Kombi death: Buck stops with ZRP’ published on Thursday, April 24, 2014 blaming the police for causing a road traffic accident…”
See also: AMHVoices Kombi kills child