Two cabinet ministers and two senior police officers have been spared serving jail time after compensating Loveness Chiriseri, a victim of reckless and indiscriminate shooting by the police, over $1.4 million.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube, Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe, and the Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga risked imprisonment for contempt of court after they failed to pay compensation to Chiriseri as ordered by High Court judge, Justice Edith Mushore in July 2020.
On Thursday the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) saved Ncube, Kazembe, Matanga, and Chief Inspector Modwick Musonza, the officer-in-charge of St Mary’s police station in Chitungwiza from imprisonment after they paid full compensation totalling $1 418 703.09 to Chiriseri.
Chiriseri was awarded US$16 788 in damages by Justice Mushore after her lawyer Fiona Iliff from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) sued Ncube, Kazembe, Matanga, and Musonza.
She sustained serious injuries when she was shot twice by a police officer who manning a checkpoint at the intersection of Seke and Delport roads in August 2018.
Chiriseri was a passenger in the private vehicle and sued for medical expenses, pain and suffering, nervous shock and loss of amenities to life as a result of the shooting.