Yes Sir, Mr Policeman!
Will someone please explain this amazing metamorphosis by the Zimbabwe Republic Police?
Two months ago we were considered so lawless that we were second only to the Wild Wild West; now we are locked down by laws all over the place! Don’t get me wrong – I love rules, laws and regulations, but the police are now often seriously overstepping the mark.
This time last year it was “anything goes” – laws were obviously made only to be broken, and most of them were being broken by the police themselves. Bribery and corruption were rife, running a traffic light (yes some of them actually worked a year ago !) was tossed off with an open bribe, either at the scene or at the court room.
I am the first to admit that we were a kamikaze nation for some considerable time, and the fact of the matter remains that the police were being paid so badly that they perceived their only recourse was to “supplement their income” …. You know how!
Why now are they going full tilt to uphold the “laws” ?
Is it something that Tendai Biti may have said about “Whatever ye shall harvest so shall ye reap “? (my misquote …)
Suddenly there are traffic-fine books where there were none to be found; suddenly there are roadblocks everywhere, and those manning them are genuinely looking for vehicle defects, for culprits talking on cell phones, for drivers and passengers not wearing their seat belts.
It is heartening to see the officers of the law actually upholding the law instead of anxiously seeking ‘weapons’, forex or opposition party activists as they did in the past.
The police are now going demented to try and make amends for their previous wicked wicked ways and in so doing, seriously overstepping the mark in many instances.
However blind eyes are still being turned by some members of the force, especially now as fines and bribes are in forex.
Horrific tales are being told of treatment at roadblocks by men and women in uniform or in plain clothes, and instead of standing up for our rights, we are still subjugated by many years of political fear.
We must get to know our rights, just as the police are re-learning the laws of the land again.
But is this new found legal bravado real? Or is it a means to an end? One likes to hope – one prays in fact – that it is the beginning of a new Zimbabwe, that the law is tired of making an ass of itself, and that peace and the absence of fear of the lawmakers, will once again prosper in our Zimbabwe.
So the next time a policeman hauls you over for an unnecessary and insane reason – bite your tongue, don’t be scared, and remember – “Peace and prosperity prevails when citizens are law abiding.”
June 3rd, 2009 16:35
i have been looking into zimbabwe culture for a project at uni just want to say i found your post very informative. Thanks