The Sunday Mail
Grace Kaerasora
After weeks of tensions over roadblocks, the Tourism and Hospitality Industry Ministry and police will soon meet to find common ground on the matter.
The “All-Stakeholder Tourism Enabler Workshop” — scheduled for Harare in a fortnight — brings together the ministries of Tourism and Home Affairs, law enforcement chiefs, the Immigation Department and Vehicle Inspection Department.
The workshop is aimed at balancing the imperative of security and law enforcement; and unencumbered movement of motorists, particularly tourists.
Tourism Minister Dr Walter Mzembi has been vocal about the high number of police roadblocks, arguing that this was dissuading tourists from visiting Zimbabwe.
Last week, Dr Mzembi said annual tourist arrivals from South Africa plummeted from 1,5 million to 600 000 partly due to heavy police presence on Zimbabwe’s roads.
Though police chiefs have not responded publicly to Dr Mzembi, Police Commissioner-General Dr Augustine Chihuri has previously dismissed roadblock critics as “sinister”, “having bitter mouths” and unappreciative of the Constitutional mandate of policing.
During the launch of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development last month, Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa implored the Home Affairs and Tourism ministries to close ranks.
Dr Mzembi told The Sunday Mail, “We want to find a solution. So, two weeks ago, we had a meeting, which was chaired by Home Affairs Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo. (It was) an eyeball-contact meeting on the issues at hand. We agreed to meet, and that is how the matter can be resolved — through consultation. After that, we find solutions.
“We agreed to retreat to an All-Stakeholder Tourism Enabler Workshop. What is needed going forward is boardroom diplomacy and selling our tourism vision to the police. If the vision is clear, everyone follows.”
Dr Mzembi added, “As Government, we have serious interest in peace, and my sector can only function if we are guaranteed peace. However, what we are saying is that if there are excesses in roadblocks, that is when we consult and try to strike a balance.”
Over the months, police have been mounting roadblocks on major inter- and intra-city routes within close radii, prompting motorists to complain that the ZRP was only out to milk them.
An electronic traffic management system will soon be introduced to integrate police, the VID, Zimbabwe National Roads Administration and Central Vehicle Registry; ultimately reducing police check-points/roadblocks and ensuring road users comply with traffic regulations.
In June 2017, the Home Affairs Ministry ordered police to reduce roadblocks to 40 countrywide.
Dr Chombo said then: “We have told the Commissioner-General of Police to reduce or remove all unnecessary roadblocks and leave the necessary ones. We want the police to do their work, but we also want the public to have hassle-free travel.”
