By Anonymous
I pull off Cripps Road, just opposite Rufaro Stadium. I park far from the road under a shade, some meters from Pioneer or Mbare Cemetery wall. I sat on the passengers’ seat with my laptop on my lap, preparing for my zoom meeting. As I go through the agenda for the meeting, a Harare City Council towing vehicle sneaks in front of my parked car. “Bouncers”, who were seated on the towing trailer quicky surrounded my car. They demanded to see the owner. I said I was. They told me that my car was “under arrest” by the Harare City Council for “sidewalk parking”. I asked several questions: when it became “illegal” to park at that place because I had parked there before without problems? And why my car when there were several others parked there? And why were there no “No Stopping” signs?
The questions were a waste of time. They were now reversing their towing vehicle to lift up the suspension of my car. They said they wanted to me to go to Harare City Council garage in Coventry Drive. “The car will stay there until you pay a small fine.” But before they did it, one of the “bouncers” came with an alternative: they showed me a lady who they said should occupy the front seat and direct me to their Coventry Street Garage. I agreed. The lady entered. She quickly instructed me to switch off the radio, lower the passenger window or switch on the air conditioner. There were further instructions: switch on the engine, turn left, turn right, stop etc. I asked the lady why she was very comfortable in a stranger’s car and why she was not afraid of being abducted or even attacked as she was trespassing. She said “try it”. I didn’t. (This was the second time I had this experience. The first was at Mbare Musika earlier in the year when a similar ambush occurred. They removed my wife from the front seat (yes, “madam” seat) to give the seat to a lady who claimed to work for Harare City Council!)
No one talked to me after a big gate was opened for my car at the Harare City Council Garage in Coventry Drive except a municipal officer in black and blue who captured my personal details and showed me where to park. I waited in my car thinking that someone would come to formally lay the charges in line with Section 50 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe – “Rights of Arrested and Detained Persons”. Nobody came. But I later realized that there was a desk on the left of the gate entrance. A lady seated on a chair flanked by two “bouncers” was writing on pink papers and filing them. So, when one enters the big gate and has been shown where to park the car, they had to go back to the gate entrance to collect a “Form of Notice”. No one had told me. I had to find out on my own. Even after having been handed the “Form of Notice”, I was not told what to do next. The issuer at the gate just said “read it for yourself”.
There was a statement at the top of the “Form of Notice” written in blue ink: “Pay at Rowan Martin”. This is why this “Form of Notice” is also called a “ticket” because it is also a statement of penalties and charges. This means I was already convicted. No explanation of the charge (Section 70 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe); no opportunity to defend myself; no right to a fair hearing (Section 69 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe). I asked all these questions. No one answered me, except other victims who told me that I was wasting my time. It was a Saturday and once it is past lunch time, I will lose it. Most of the offices close half day. If I delayed, I would get my car on Monday but after paying additional storage charges of US$57 per night. The advice was serious. I recognized several cars in the yard owners abandoned possibly due to frustration and consequent failure to pay the fines and storage costs. At one spot, there was a heap of vehicle number plates. I later gathered that the Harare City Council had tried to auction some of the abandoned cars, but couldn’t because they did not have the car keys. The owners who abandoned cars in Harare City Council Garage took their keys with them!
I walked (because I was no longer allowed to use my car) to Rowan Martin building, about one and a half kilometer from the Harare City Council Garage, to pay the US$68 before they closed at 1pm. I walked back and submitted the proof of payment. But I was told that I had not finished. I was instructed to go to Trafalgar Court in Julius Nyerere Way, about two kilometers from the City Council Garage, and present the car registration book for “clearance”. I almost fainted. It was another ambush. The time was almost 1pm. Offices were about to close. I did not have my car registration book with me. Someone had to bring it from home, 30 km away. I wished they could have told me earlier. But I recognized I was not the only one. One lady was crying in her car, tears wetting the steering wheel. A man was almost crying. He tried to avoid it by shouting out his frustrations as he moved around the yard. But tears flowing down his cheeks exhibited his pain. I cried together with them for the Right to Administrative Justice as stated in Section 68 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe: “Every person has a right to administrative conduct that is lawful, prompt, efficient, reasonable, proportionate, impartial, and both substantively and procedurally fair”.
In all fairness and given the economic difficulties in Zimbabwe, how many would actually afford to move around locally in town with US$68 on spot or ready for Harare City Council traffic fines? In an independent Zimbabwe, citizens have continued to endure, patiently and quietly, the painful Rhodesian style treatment of the City Council. Peaceful Zimbabweans have been overstretched and abused for too long. But there is limit to human endurance. It’s important for the state to protect its citizens. The relevant Parliamentary Portfolio Committee(s) should conduct public hearings on the conduct of Harare City Council Traffic and its human rights violations and provide some policy or legislative opinions for best practices. Perhaps Zimbabwe needs a trained, professional, independent “Traffic Police” – like in South Africa – to fairly administer Zimbabwe’s traffic laws.
Post published in: Featured