Tourists to Zim harassed by police at roadblocks

NEARLY 60% of tourists to Zimbabwe complain about police harassment, according to the latest government statistics. And most of those visitors are from South Africa. Data collected by the Visitors’ Exit Survey for the year ending November 2016 shows 40% of tourists would not recommend Zimbabwe as a destination because of police roadblocks.

Although the questionnaire did not specify what kind of police harassment tourists experienced during their visits to Zimbabwe, many locals say they believe tourists, as they are, are harassed by spot fines at police roadblocks, which they describe as a “hazard” on the roads.

Drivers complain they are stopped and forced to sign admission-of-guilt forms and must pay between R130 to R260 immediately.

They say they seldom refuse to pay because they fear their vehicles will be impounded. Others say police also sometimes confiscate their driver’s licenses if they have no money for spot fines.

Regular travellers and bus companies report there are often more then 10 roadblocks along the 380km journey between Zimbabwe’s second biggest city Bulawayo and the major tourist resort at Victoria Falls and between 12 to 20 roadblocks along the 360km drive between the capital Harare and Bulawayo.

But it is in the cities that complaints are received on social media. “We try to avoid the main streets and travel on side roads, taking different routes every day to avoid the police, but many of the small roads in the suburbs are now too dangerous because of this summer’s heavy rains, which have caused massive new potholes everywhere,” said one businessman who commutes about 10km a day from western Harare to his office in the city centre.

He said there was such a shortage of money at the banks that many commuters did not have cash to pay fines nowadays.

The Harare High Court ruled last week that police may not confiscate licences or impound vehicles of drivers who refused to pay spot fines.

“We have heard a similar court ruling before,” said a Harare lawyer. “But it was ignored by the police.”

Tourism to Zimbabwe is largely concentrated on Victoria Falls and some wildlife areas in the western part of Zimbabwe, with few visitors to the capital, according to hoteliers.

“Our occupancy is very low. We depend on a few business people from Johannesburg, but there fewer coming in from South Africa,” said a city centre hotelier. “Tourists are going to the Victoria Falls.”

He said the new, extended runway at Victoria Falls meant tourists could fly in at night and did not need to stop over in Harare.

Ethiopian Airlines begins a regular service to the falls later this month and Kenya Airways said its service begins in May. Last week, SAA sent its first wide-bodied aircraft to Victoria Falls.

SAA country manager Winnie Muchanyuka said if demand continued, the airline would deploy its even larger A346 plane. “There is a lot of potential at the Victoria Falls resort,” she said.

Tourism to Victoria Falls is seasonal however, with most visitors choosing to visit during the drier winter months.

IF THEY CAN’T PAY SPOT FINES, THEIR LICENCES ARE CONFISCATED AND VEHICLES IMPOUNDED