Commuters petition teargas-throwing cops

THE Passenger Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ) has petitioned the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) over police officers fond of throwing tearsmoke on commuter omnibuses.

The petition came soon after an incident last Friday, where police officers threw teargas canisters into a kombi along Seke Road in Harare, which had passengers inside.

Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said he had not received a report about the incident.

A passenger, who spoke to NewsDay, said: “Four canisters were fired from the car which was in transit along Seke Road. We were waiting for transport and we ran in all directions after teargas had been thrown into the bus. Smoke is still stuck in my throat.”

He said his mask still smelt of tearsmoke.

“No one was run over or hit by cars since the drivers stopped their cars after seeing commotion, but what surprised me is that there were also other police officers who were waiting for transport at the scene where teargas was thrown into a kombi,” he said.

PAZ president Tafadzwa Goliati said: “On Friday, we received complaints from passengers that commuters, who were coming from work, were tear-gassed by riot police at Coca-Cola along Seke Road. Today (Monday) in the morning, we received the same news that at the same place, the police in a black Honda Fit vehicle teargassed passengers.

“This is dangerous because in the process passengers run for their lives, and they may end up being hit by cars. Teargassing people during the COVID-19 era is not only bad, but it is dangerous. COVID-19 is a respiratory infection, and imagine what teargas will do to weaken the respiratory system.”

Goliati said the country needed to be freed from such kinds of torture.

“What they are doing is very wrong and it has no place in a democratic world. My question is: who is going to be answerable to the injuries and deaths that might happen as a result of this unbecoming behaviour by our security forces. Zimbabwe needs to be freed from this kind of torture.”

Last year, seven police officers who teargassed a commuter omnibus packed with passengers in Harare were arrested.

THE High Court has ordered the government to widely disseminate comprehensive and adequate information on COVID-19 testing, isolation and treatment at public and private institutions.

This follows an urgent application filed by the Media Institute for Southern Africa (Misa) Zimbabwe, through its lawyer Rudo Magundani of Scanlen and Holderness, arguing that the information being disseminated was uninformative and inadequate.

High Court judge Justice Mary Dube also ruled that in addition, the Information and Publicity and Health and Child Care ministries should communicate COVID-19 statistics in relation to immigration and cross-border travel, adding that such reports should include the number of returning residents and their COVID-19 statuses.

Magundani had argued that the information being currently disseminated in the country was incomplete, uninformative, and inadequate.

Misa Zimbabwe contended that the information being disseminated currently failed to take into consideration the requirements of all Zimbabweans, and that its quality was poor and was short-changing the citizens on issues of the new strain of COVID-19.

The ministers opposed the application on the basis that the government was providing “enough information” related to COVID-19 through both mainstream media and social media platforms.

“The respondents have diligently disseminated sufficient and necessary information to safeguard lives and observe the right to information of the general public,” Information secretary

Ndavaningi Mangwana said in his opposing affidavit.

But Justice Dube granted the interim relief, ordering the two ministries to disseminate information on the occurrence and prevalence of the COVID-19 virus strain 501Y.V2 in Zimbabwe on a regular basis.

She said COVID-19 statistics for each district in Zimbabwe should be communicated, and should include gender disaggregation, as well as list public and private testing and treatment centres and their occupation capacity or usage.

“To communicate the type and quality of medical equipment and other personnel required and any further procurement that has been made since the commencement of the current national lockdown on the 3rd January,” the order read in part.

INCESSANT rains have caused serious damage to infrastructure and crops in Matabeleland South, with villagers fearing for the safety of their houses.

Matobo district ward 15 councillor Dickson Moyo told Southern Eye yesterday that it was the first time since the 1970s that the area had experienced heavy rains which destroyed crops.

He said most families were now facing hunger after their crops were washed away by flash floods.

“Our crops are now a writeoff, even those planted through the Intwasa/Pfumbudza scheme. The government was supposed to assist us with fertiliser to avert leaching, but we only got it last week. Mkhokha village has more than 1 000 villagers, but we only received 200 bags of fertilizer, which is not enough,’’ Moyo said.

He said incessant rains last hit Matabeleland South in the 1970s, adding that several homesteads had their huts damaged by the rains as they were constructed using non-durable material.

MDC Alliance provincial chairman Solani Moyo said in Bulilima East, roads had been turned into rivers. He said Manzamnyama River experienced flash floods.

“Villagers have spent two weeks without entering their fields due to the continuous rains that we are receiving in Bulilima everyday. Our crops are now clogged up with water, making them a write-off,” Moyo said.

He said he had to assist some villagers in Huwana village with meal-mealie, after their homesteads were destroyed by the rains.