Standing up to corruption
I stood for an hour on the side of Chiremba Road on Wednesday. Police pulled me over, for not displaying something, somehow. Or something was displayed incorrectly. Then again, maybe something was incorrectly displayed. Whatever. I showed my triangles. I showed my fire extinguisher. (I discovered I have a tin of beans under my seat!) I had a license plate. And license disk. And license sticker. All in order. I think it was insurance. Whatever.
“Come with me,” and he has my drivers license so I really have no choice. We cross the road to the woman constable with the fine receipt book. “$20 spot fine.”
“But I only have $4,” and I show my wallet with all my money in it, which turns out to be only $3.
“But it is a $20 spot fine.”
“Well, I only have $3, I cannot pay $20, either give me a ticket, or take me to jail.”
“It is not a criminal offense for what you have done.”
“Well, it is not a criminal offense to only have $3.” At least I hope it is not, or most Zimbabweans would be in jail.
“Park over there.” So I cross the road and park the truck over there.
“Come with me”, and we cross the road again. In an hour we cross the road four times. With puzzlement and wonder … “How can we write a receipt for $3?” “I don’t know, but $3 is all I have.” “But the spot fine is $20.” “So write me a ticket.”
And in amongst the standing around, crossing the road, picking my nose and the same questions and same answers to the same person, different persons, random persons, and more, I watch plenty of folded and crumpled and filthy (toll gate special) bills be passed from ‘offenders’ (who have committed the offence of driving down Chiremba Road) to ‘enforcers’, and not many receipts being issued. Eventually, “you can go”, but I can’t really, as they still have my license, and once we find whose hand it is in, there is the barrage of the same questions and answers over and over again – “$20″, “only got $3″, “can’t write receipt of $3″, and I finally get my driver’s license and drive off.
So, what has happened here?
Obviously, if I had handed over my remaining $3 (lunch money!) for a receipt-less ‘fine’ I could have gone much sooner, and we all could have ridden the corruption gravy train much faster. With whatever my offence was completely un-corrected.
And what are the ZRP, the guardians of Law and Order in Zimbabwe, doing for the economy of Zimbabwe? They are making it ‘work’ in their own personal regard. In terms of the national fiscus, even if I had paid $20, and received a receipt, how much difference would that have made towards the justice system, the attorney general, keeping dangerous vehicles off the road, making Zimbabwe a safer and better place for us all to live in? And how many hours were spent – and productivity lost – by everyone I watched processing receipt-less fines. How much did those costs add to the underground economy (since there are no receipts, they cannot be accounted for in the taxed economy), swelling it and making it bigger?
Zimbabwe is to co-host next year, with Zambia, a big, international tourism event. How far does this attitude from the police (and all the ruling, and former ruling, apparatus) percolate through the country? How many ‘visitors’ will get this treatment?
But it is that attitude – I have power, you have money, and I want your money (without earning it) – that is at fault. This attitude needs to be changed if we are to get ahead.