Police warn motorists

POLICE have warned motorists against reckless driving during the Heroes and Defence Forces holidays.

In a statement, chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba urged motorists to obey traffic regulations and exercise caution on the roads.

“As we approach the Heroes and Defence Forces Holiday, the Zimbabwe Republic Police urges motorists to exercise caution, observe road rules and regulations on the road and strive to safeguard lives,” she said.

Snr Asst Comm Charamba said statistics recorded by the police show that the majority of accidents have been attributed to speeding, human error, misjudgment, overloading and defective motor vehicles.

She said motorists should ensure that their motor vehicles are roadworthy to carry passengers and goods.

“We therefore appeal to all motorists to drive safely during the holiday and to value the sanctity of human life. For the convenience and safe travel of the public, the ZRP will deploy police officers on all the country’s roads and motorists are urged to co-operate with police officers at road blocks and check points,” she said.

Snr Asst Comm Charamba said apart from checking vehicle defects, police will also be on the lookout for various traffic violations, stolen motor vehicles, wanted criminals, cattle rustlers and drug traffickers, among others.

“The ZRP will be working hand in hand with other stakeholders such as the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) and Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) to ensure that sanity and safety prevails on our roads in an effort to reduce road accidents,” she said.

“Of late we have noticed a trend where motorists are wantonly flouting road rules and regulations by driving against one way, proceeding against red traffic lights, driving on pavements and failure to obey carriage way markings among others. All traffic offenders are warned that the long arm of the law will soon catch up with them.”

She urged public service vehicle operators to employ drivers who are of the stipulated age, who have all the requisite documents to drive and to ensure that their vehicles are roadworthy.

Snr Asst Comm Charamba said police will not hesitate to impound all unroadworthy vehicles in order to save lives.

“Let us all co-operate with police officers as they discharge their constitutional mandate. Members of the public who will be travelling to various destinations are also encouraged to board motor vehicles at designates points and not to make use of unregistered vehicles as they risk being robbed and lose valuables in the process,” said Snr Asst Comm Charamba.

“Those who will be leaving their homes are urged to make enough security arrangements to safeguard their properties. Parents and guardians should make sure that they leave their children in the hands of trusted adults in the event that they are travelling without them. They should avoid leaving the girl child in the guardian of male relatives as some might be sexually abused.” THE Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) has lamented the election of a few women into the National Assembly in the July 30 harmonised polls.

In a statement, the ZGC urged members of the public and politicians to ensure gender equality in all programmes as stipulated in the Constitution.

“Although there was an increase in female presidential candidates, we noted that they were subjected to unfair media and public scrutiny compared to the males. The conscious targeting of women as voters, candidates and election officials in hate speech, inflammatory language and cyber bullying was prevalent,” said the commission.

The organisation said there was lack of legislation to compel political parties to comply with constitutional provisions to ensure the implementation of the parity principle in drawing up party lists.

It said political parties should observe the gender parity by mainstreaming gender in their party constitutions, policies, structures and processes.

“Although women constituted the majority of voters, their participation as candidates was limited as evidenced by the low number of women who succeeded in the primary elections of different parties. Only 15 percent of female candidates made it as at National Assembly and 17 percent at local Government,” reads the statement.

“In the actual election, the results show that only 12, 4 percent were elected outside the women’s quota for National Assembly.”

ZGC also recommended that the parity principle in the appointment of the next Cabinet and other senior government positions be taken into account.

It said during the elections, it noted that while women were majority in terms of numbers, more men occupied decision making positions across all levels. It said Constituency elections officers and presiding officers within the election management system were men while women occupied mostly administrative and support functions. — @thamamoe

events will be held at Lady Stanley Cemetery and Pelandaba. We have widows of some National Heroes who were laid here in Bulawayo who will come and lay wreaths on the graves so that is the second part of our celebrations,” she said.

Cde Masuku said heroes like Cdes Lookout Masuku and Welshman Mabhena were buried in the city so part of the day’s proceedings will also involve visiting their graves.

Cde Masuku said the day should also be a reminder to the people to maintain peace as this was part of the key objectives that saw freedom fighters taking up arms to fight the colonial government so that Zimbabweans could enjoy freedom.

Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association Bulawayo provincial chairman, Cde Cephas Ncube, said war veterans were celebrating the day with optimism that Cde Mnangagwa would address the challenges faced by war veterans.

In Matabeleland North Province, the Heroes Day celebrations will be held in Lupane which is the provincial capital while in Matabeleland South all roads lead to the provincial shrine in Gwanda. — @mashnets See Comment on Page 4