Foreign brothers ‘harassed’by police officer in Elim
Hawkers from Zimbabwe who ply their trade in the Elim area said they are not pleased with the way a certain police officer continues to abuse and harass them.
LIMPOPO – In one of the recent incidents last month, a Zimbabwean hawker, Tapiwa Mahwerera, said he was walking in the vicinity of Rivoni when a police van stopped near him. He maintains he was carrying bucket kettles, kettle elements, a same-time photo machine and a camera when the police officer in question stopped him.
“He came to me and said he wanted to search me for any counterfeit digital discs,” Mahwerera said. “Despite not finding any counterfeit digital discs, the police officer was adamant that I get into the van. This is nothing new as it he was known to arrest me and other Zimbabwean hawkers only to detain us before releasing us in the evening or the following morning. I ran away from the officer when he said I should get in the back of the van.”
When he ran away, Mahwerera said the police officer shouted “vimba” and the people who were around started chasing him.
He managed to escape them but left all his items behind.
“I saw from a distance the police were loading my stuff into the back of the van,” Mahwerera said.
Mahwerera said he wanted to report the police officer who harassed him to the station commander the Sunday after the incident and the station commander scheduled a meeting with him the following day.
“I went to the police station with my older brother, Freddy Chimiso. We were barred from seeing the station commander by a senior officer who promised to mediate between me and the police officer who abused me. When the officer was called into the office, however, he denied ever abusing me or taking my stuff. My brother told him what he was doing was wrong and he grabbed my brother by the shirt, tearing it in the process.”
Mahwerera said the police officer then threatened him and his brother, getting physical with him before the senior official intervened.
At the end of the day, the two brothers, who felt they were the most vulnerable victims, walked out of the police station feeling hurt and defeated.
This was not the end of Mahwerera’s anguish, however, as the police officer searched his house shortly after for contraband items only to come up empty-handed.
“He pointed his firearm at my two-day-old son and said: ‘You must go to your home in Zimbabwe or else I will kill you one of these days’,” a traumatised Mahwerera told CV.
Provincial Police Spokesperson, Col Moatshe Ngoepe, condemned the incident and said there was no police officer who can act as a power unto himself. “The victims must report the matter to the station commander or the Independent Police Investigations’ Provincial Coordinators,” Ngoepe said.
