By- The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has exposed two members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) who tortured a Harare woman.
ZLHR said Constable Murwisi and Constable Mandeya brutally assaulted 30-year-old Zororo Mazhawidza at Harare Central Police Station in the presence of her one-month-old baby.
The torture and assault occurred on 10 March 2021.
Mazhawidza was left bleeding from her private parts and nursing some injuries following the assault.
The cops reportedly placed a wooden plank behind her knees and lifted her in the air such that her head was upside down.
They then started assaulting her with truncheons just below her backsides which resulted in her defecating and urinating on herself.
The police officers accused Mazhawidza of stealing a Pre-paid Command Agriculture Fuel Card belonging to one Reginald and converting the fuel for her own use.
However, Mazhawidza told the police officers that she had not stolen the pre-paid fuel card but was just simply holding onto it until Reginald paid her US$1 100 which she had advanced to him.
The assault and torture only stopped after Mazhawidza produced the pre-paid fuel card.
The cops instructed Mazhawidza to clean up her mess and dispose of it. They later released her without any charge preferred against her.
Through ZLHR’s Tinashe Chinopfukutwa, Mazhawidza sued both Constable Murwisi and Constable Mandeya in their personal capacity together with Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe and ZRP Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga for ZWL$900 000 in damages arising from the torture.
In response to Mazhawidza’s summons to the respondents, Luckson Muradzikwa of the Attorney General’s Office wrote to Chinopfukutwa seeking to settle the matter out of court.
Muradzikwa told Chinopfukutwa that his clients want the damages claim of ZWL$900 000 to be reduced but the latter insisted that Constable Murwisi, Constable Mandeya, Kazembe and Matanga should pay the full amount.
Judgment on the matter is pending before the Harare Magistrate Court.