HARARE - A Harare motorist has filed a Constitutional Court application seeking to stop police from demanding spot fines.
In the application, filed yesterday by his lawyer Tonderai Bhatasara, Andrew Makunura cited Home Affairs minister Kembo Mohadi, commissioner-general of police Augustine Chihuri police constable Agrippa Chinyama and the attorney-general, as respondents.
Makunura argues that spot fines are unconstitutional.
“Any law, practice, custom or conduct by the 1st -3rd respondents (Mohadi, Chihuri and Chinyama) allowing the demand or payment of a fine on the spot is invalid to the extent of its inconsistency with the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20),” Makunura said.
He sought a court order compelling the police to forthwith stop demanding motorists to pay fines on the spot.
Makunura told the court that he was stopped at a roadblock in Harare’s Glen Norah suburb.
He was later asked to pay a $10 fine, because he did not have a radio listener’s licence.
He told the police officer that he did not have money on his person, leading to a protracted delay of more than one hour, as the police officer insisted that he should pay the fine on spot.
Makunura said he furnished the police officer with his residential and work addresses, before making an undertaking to pay the fine later.
The police officer later asked him to pay the fine before lunch-time on the day, while he kept his driver’s licence.
“I am advised that there is no law, regulation or rule that permits officers under the command and direction of 2nd respondent (Chihuri) to demand that I pay a fine on the spot.
“I am advised that the issue of a notice to pay a fine allows me the opportunity, in my own time, to consider and decide whether to admit and pay the fine or to challenge the notice in a court of law. This facility is an important part of protecting my constitutional rights to a fair hearing, which I can waive by admitting to the fine, but only on my free will, not by compulsion,” he said.
He further claimed that by confiscating his driver’s licence, Chinyama infringed on his right in section 71 of the Constitution.
“The demand of payment of a fine on the spot is legally not supportable and constitutionally impermissible. To compound it, the manner in which respondents go about administering the spot fines regime abrogates the right to a fair trial among others,” Makunura said.
In the application, filed yesterday by his lawyer Tonderai Bhatasara, Andrew Makunura cited Home Affairs minister Kembo Mohadi, commissioner-general of police Augustine Chihuri police constable Agrippa Chinyama and the attorney-general, as respondents.
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“Any law, practice, custom or conduct by the 1st -3rd respondents (Mohadi, Chihuri and Chinyama) allowing the demand or payment of a fine on the spot is invalid to the extent of its inconsistency with the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20),” Makunura said.
He sought a court order compelling the police to forthwith stop demanding motorists to pay fines on the spot.
Makunura told the court that he was stopped at a roadblock in Harare’s Glen Norah suburb.
He was later asked to pay a $10 fine, because he did not have a radio listener’s licence.
He told the police officer that he did not have money on his person, leading to a protracted delay of more than one hour, as the police officer insisted that he should pay the fine on spot.
Makunura said he furnished the police officer with his residential and work addresses, before making an undertaking to pay the fine later.
The police officer later asked him to pay the fine before lunch-time on the day, while he kept his driver’s licence.
“I am advised that there is no law, regulation or rule that permits officers under the command and direction of 2nd respondent (Chihuri) to demand that I pay a fine on the spot.
“I am advised that the issue of a notice to pay a fine allows me the opportunity, in my own time, to consider and decide whether to admit and pay the fine or to challenge the notice in a court of law. This facility is an important part of protecting my constitutional rights to a fair hearing, which I can waive by admitting to the fine, but only on my free will, not by compulsion,” he said.
He further claimed that by confiscating his driver’s licence, Chinyama infringed on his right in section 71 of the Constitution.
“The demand of payment of a fine on the spot is legally not supportable and constitutionally impermissible. To compound it, the manner in which respondents go about administering the spot fines regime abrogates the right to a fair trial among others,” Makunura said.
