THE traffic police are justified when they shoot perceived dangerous motorists or when they cause damage to their vehicles, home affairs deputy minister Obedingwa Mguni, has said.
His comment comes at a time when traffic cops have seemingly abandoned rubber baton sticks which they used to smash windscreens of offending motorists and instead turned to spikes to deflate the tyres of speeding vehicles.
Police chief spokesperson, Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba, refused to say if this was lawful, preferring emailed questions which she has, however, failed to respond to, three days after they were sent to her.
But Mguni was unapologetic about this, insisting police had no other option except to use the condemned methods of dealing with traffic offenders.
The sight of police officers on traffic aprons patrolling the streets on foot with some on motor bikes is now common in central Harare.
Motorists are often taken by surprise when they see spikes thrown in front of their cars as police desperately try to stop them at roadblocks.
This has often resulted in motorists losing control of their vehicles causing accidents.
Human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa said the practice amounted to malicious injury to property by the cops adding this was brazen lawlessness.
Mtetwa said this was tantamount to usurping the powers of the court when police officers become arresting officers while also granting themselves the same authority to punish offenders.
However Mguni refused to say if this amounted to unlawful acts by the police but defended the practice which he said was aimed at protecting police details who were at the mercy of defiant motorists.
“What must they do if the taxi drivers are running away, shoot them?” Mguni said during an interview with NewZimbabwe.com.
“I always hear questions where people tend to defend law breakers.”
Mguni said it was justifiable for police operatives to even shoot suspected offenders.
“Even to shoot a person is unlawful but if that person is dangerous and can kill four people you will end up doing it even if it is unlawful,” he said.
“I am asking, do you have another way which is better to catch those criminals that are running away from police, knocking down the police because the police will stand in the middle of the road with a reflector and they will run on top of him.”
The Zanu PF official said it was often laborious to track the offenders through registration plates, something that often takes them to more than single owners of the vehicles.
Source-New Zimbabwe