Why Zimbabwe police sometimes insist on spot fines- Minister

Police have to insist on spot fines in some cases because the person who will be driving the car does not have a licence, the vehicles in not his or hers, and the owner is not known.

This was said in Parliament yesterday by the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Obedingwa Mguni in response to questions on why the police were not reducing roadblocks as requested by government ministers like Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi who complained that the roadblocks were hindering tourism.

Mguni said President Robert Mugabe had ordered that roadblocks be reduced by certain things had to be put in place before this could be done.

He said one of the key things was that the registration of vehicles needed to be integrated and computerised so that people could pay their fines at the nearest police station.

“Most of the people that are stopped at road blocks for fines – you will find that the driver does not have a licence; the car he is driving is not his and the owner is not known,” he said.   

“If you let that person to go and pay at a police station, how will he pay?  He is not known.  The address and vehicle do not correspond.  You cannot be always doing what he wants.  We need to enforce the law and see that the person pays.”

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