BULAWAYO – Home affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe and police chief Godwin Matanga have avoided jail time for contempt of court after finally paying US$16,788 in damages to a victim of a police shooting.
Loveness Chiriseri, a Chitungwiza resident, sued the two jointly with finance minister Mthuli Ncube after she was shot twice by a police officer at a checkpoint in Harare in August 2018.
Kazembe and Matanga risked imprisonment after failing to compensate her as ordered by High Court Judge Justice Edith Mushore in July 2020, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), which sued on Chirisei’s behalf, said.
“But on Thursday, ZRP [Zimbabwe Republic Police] saved Kazembe, Matanga, and Chief Inspector Musonza from serving jail time after the law enforcement agency finally paid compensation amounting to RTGS$1,418,703.09 to Chiriseri as damages for the reckless and indiscriminate shooting of the Chitungwiza resident,” the ZLHR added.
The rights group said after Chiriseri “was injured when a cop manning a ZRP checkpoint along Seke road shot twice at a private vehicle she was traveling in,” she sued for “injuries sustained as a result of the shooting, medical expenses, pain and suffering, nervous shock and loss of amenities to life.”
Granting her US$16,788 in damages, Justice Mushore ripped the police for using deadly force and ordered that the damages be paid in U.S. dollars given Zimbabwe’s volatile currency.
She ruled: “Further, I hold the opinion that the decided cases which determined that in a multi-currency climate, particularly where the economy presents itself as being unsteady, the common position has been that the courts have the discretion to make awards in United States dollars.”
Victims of police brutality are increasingly fighting back in the courts with the help of human rights defenders, filing claims for damages against Kazembe and police chiefs, who face a slew of lawsuits.
