The Zimbabwe Passengers Association (ZPA) has petitioned President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe and Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga over police officers’ lack of seriousness in attending to accident scenes.
They alleged that in some incidents, police attended to accident scenes two hours later.
In the petition, seen by NewsDay Zimbabwe, ZPA secretary-general Paul Makiwa said police were seemingly obsessed with recording statements at accident scenes rather than saving the lives of the injured. He said:
We witnessed an accident on August 1 in Kwekwe and people were injured and taken to hospital for medical attention by well-wishers before the police officers arrived. It took the police officers about two hours to arrive at the scene. One police officer queried why those who were injured were taken to hospital before the police arrived, adding that it would be difficult for the police to record their statements when the injured are no longer at the scene. In a way this police officer acted wrongly. His superiors also humiliated the members of the public.
Makiwa said the police charter stipulated that they should save lives when accidents happen and follow victims to the hospital if they want to take statements.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi told NewsDay Zimbabwe that police were working within set rules.