Taurai Masamba

A motorist has exposed the extortionate and arbitrage activities of the City of Harare’s Traffic Department which are meant to line the officers’ pockets.

Last weekend, a motorist who uses the name Zambezi Researcher (@zamresearcher), took to the X social media platform to narrate his ordeal at the hands of the Harare Traffic Department officers.

According to Zambezi Researcher, he was arrested in the city centre for wrong parking but, instead of being referred to the Department’s offices at Trafalgar Court in the city centre, he was forced to drive to the local authority’s stores yard along Coventry Road in Workington industrial area where impounded vehicles are stored.

The motorist’s story exposed how Harare Traffic officers make it appear difficult to pay fines for basic offences so that they can extort bribes and other forms of illegal payments from hapless motorists. For example, instead of paying at Trafalgar offices or the Coventry Road Stores Yard, they are referred to the Remembrance Drive offices to make the process seem difficult and induce bribes from motorists.

“I was arrested for wrongful parking in Harare CBD by council police. They forced me to drive to ‘stores’ where they detain such cars. When I got there I was told the fine is US$68. I said well and good let me pay. Then they said hold on, you have to go to the Remembrance Drive offices in Mbare to pay this,” Zambezi Researcher posted.

When the motorist questioned the arrangement, he was told that it was the city’s policy. The Traffic official even took advantage of the fact that the motorist did not have a vehicle to use for the trip to refer him to a taxi driver at hand who could go to Mbare for him.

The motorist gave the taxi driver US$70 and he returned a few moments later with a receipt denominated in Zimbabwe dollars. This means that the taxi driver and the officers were working in collusion to leverage the exchange rate between the two currencies for their own benefit. Most likely the taxi driver may not even have driven to Mbare but to a foreign currency dealer who paid the fine using local currency, before sharing the US$70 with the traffic officials and the taxi driver.

The traffic officers also invoke the names of motoring related-parastatals and Government Departments such as the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA), the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Vehicle Theft Squad (VTS) which have nothing to do with parking offences to encourage motorists to pay bribes for vehicles that are wrongfully “impounded” for minor and finable offences.

“I said well and good now release my car. They said hold on, this is an "operation." Because you have been arrested for parking, we will detain your car until you get cleared by ZINARA, Police VTS at Southerton and some office at Trafalgar (Court),” Zambezi Researcher narrated.

After being referred from pillar to post without releasing his motor vehicle, the motorist became frustrated and went outside where a traffic officer asked for a US$30 final hurdle bribe.

“I went outside and one of the officers outside said pakuda USD30 then zvese zvovharana. At this point, I was feeling drained and just wanted to leave,” the motorist posted.

The officer called another gentleman and directed the motorist to give the money to the man who would talk to the police officer at a ZRP desk to let the motorist go. He said that the ZRP was encamped at the stores yard because of an ongoing operation. The motorist was again handed a local currency receipt for the US$30 payment. His vehicle was finally released.

The motorist’s post triggered a flurry of angry tirades from motorists who have gone through similar and other ordeals at the hands of the Harare Traffic Department officers.

When motorists appealed to Harare Mayor, Jacob Mafume on Monday to comment on and intervene in the matter, he promised to talk to the relevant officials about the matter.

“I am meeting the relevant officials this morning and a statement will be put out,” he said.

At the time of publishing this story, the Stanley Gama-headed City of Harare public relations had not yet issued a statement. The ZRP was yet to confirm whether or not it was involved in an operation with the City of Harare Traffic Department.