The Sunday Mail
Tendai Chara—
FOR the past 16 years, councils have been lobbying Government to give municipal police officers powers to arrest individuals that flout council by-laws.
Calls have also been made for the introduction of municipal courts where local authorities will try and sentence offenders caught breaking council by-laws.
Councils maintain that the establishment of municipal courts and the granting of arresting powers is a sure way of dealing with those that deliberately flout council by-laws.
The Urban Council Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ) maintains that tracking and bringing to book those that flout council by-laws is a tall order, with defaulters on rents and rates payments getting off scot-free.
UCAZ president, Councillor Bernard Manyenyeni, who is also the Mayor of Harare, is on record saying there is need for council security officers to be given arresting powers.
He also advocated for the establishment of municipal courts, which he said will reduce backlogs at the national courts and enhance efficiency in service delivery.
According to Clr Manyenyeni, municipal officers are often attacked whilst trying to enforce by-laws and the only way that he believes will stop the attacks is through granting them arresting powers.
UCAZ has engaged the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing as it seeks to incorporate some changes into the Urban Councils Act.
Since the country is in the process of aligning its laws with the Constitution, councils are optimistic that the Urban Councils Act will incorporate some of their concerns.
But will the granting of arresting powers and the introduction of municipal courts bring sanity to our councils?
Although most of the people that were interviewed by The Sunday Mail Extra welcomed the idea, a number of questions regarding the councils’ capacity to establish courts, potential abuse of power and corruption were raised.
The urban transport sector is one of the many sectors that will benefit from the proposed changes.
Stakeholders in the transport sector said the proposals will, to a larger extent, help bring sanity to the country’s commuter omnibus ranks. Mr Ngoni Katsvairo, the secretary general of the Greater Harare Association of Commuter Operators, said municipal police officers’ arresting powers and municipal courts is the way to go.
“This is the international trend. Municipal police officers in most developed countries are responsible for maintaining order. They are given arresting powers and this has proven to be the only solution to lawlessness on the roads,” Mr Katsvairo said.
Mr Katsvairo, however, said the biggest threat is corruption and abuse of power.
“Corruption is the biggest challenge. Most councils do not have any anti-corruption measures and an anti-corruption unit. The biggest fear is that if councils are given arresting powers, they might end up abusing them,” he said.
Mr Zefania Jaravaza, the Nyanga Rural District Council chief executive officer welcomed the proposals. He, however, argued that granting municipal police officers arresting powers will not, in any way, fuel corruption.
“To me, this is a great idea. Councils desperately need the arresting powers since they will help bring sanity. We cannot say this will fuel corruption. Corruption is virtually everywhere,” said Mr Jaravaza.
He said the establishment of municipal courts will help ease backlogs.
“We have, for example, a case that we have been pursuing for the past six months. All we want is the eviction of the people that have illegally occupied space but we have not found joy in our efforts. It would have been faster if we had our own courts,” Mr Jaravaza said.
Mr Tafadzwa Goliati, the president of the Passengers Association of Zimbabwe said the granting of arresting powers to municipal police officers will safeguard the lives of ordinary people.
“We have witnessed residents being run over by commuter omnibuses fleeing the police. Spikes are wantonly thrown at vehicles, putting the lives of commuters at great risk.”
“To me, this is poor council by-laws implementation. We must take a cue from South Africa where municipal police smoothly run council affairs,” Mr Goliati said.
He added that if proper procedures are taken, chances of municipal police officers abusing the powers will be minimised.
“It all goes down to proper implementation. This system is doing wonders in other countries and there is no way it will fail here,” concluded Mr Goliati.
The Bulawayo City Council was the first to come up with the proposal in 2000 by making an application through the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development.
Zimbabwe is one of the few countries where council police do not have arresting powers.
In South Africa, municipal police forces are responsible for traffic policing and enforcing local by-laws within the municipality.
Council police officers work hand in glove with the South African Police Service to prevent crime and maintain public order.
However, as is the case with Zimbabwe, municipal police offices in South Africa do not conduct criminal investigations.
Instead, they hand over such cases to the South African Police Service.
