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Botswana: Zimbabwean Worker Stuck in Maun
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The Voice (Francistown)
8 April 2008
Posted to the web 8 April 2008
Nomsa Ndlovu
Francistown
As he tells his story of brutality and harassment at the hands of the Botswana police, Cananius Tanyanyiwa is one amongst many that can't wait to return home to a 'new' Zimbabwe.
The 38-year-old from Harare had been working in Maun for Eric Ronald Ridge, 69, father of Maun West Member of Parliament Ronald Ridge when he fell foul of the law.
He tells how he had to make an unexpected journey home to attend to urgent family business. On his return to Maun in mid January he went back to the Ridges to get his farm labourer job back.
"We didn't hesitate accepting him back into our lives because of his past record of honesty and hard work. During our negotiations we noticed that his days of stay in Botswana had expired.
"We gave him money and urged him to go to the immigration, pay the fine for his days of illegal stay and return so we could process his work permit again. To our dismay three hours after the meeting, he returned holding a broken arm and related how police had assaulted him. His passport and money were gone, instead, he possessed a police diary," Ridge senior said.
Tanyanyiwa's story is that on his way to the immigration offices he came across five Special Constables patrolling in Boseja ward. Knowing the problem with his passport he decided to divert from the path, and hid behind a nearby tree.
But the cops had seen him, and when they approached, they started battering him with their batons.
He claims that one of the cops broke a thick stick from a tree and joined in the brutal game, beating and insulting him. After they had beaten him to their satisfaction, they handcuffed him together with two other illegal immigrants they had caught.
They confiscated his passport and took the captured men with them as they continued their hunt for illegal immigrants. After three hours of walking, the cops are said to have told the arrested men that they had decided not to take them to the police station, but to let them go on condition that they give them P100 each.
"I had P200 from my former employers and R100 that I always kept in my pocket for emergences. I paid for the two others that were cuffed with me and we were let go. Before we parted ways I demanded my passport back from the cops. It was only when I arrived home that I discovered I was holding a police diary.
Taking up the story, Eric Ridge's daughter Rita, 36, said that she saw the diary and described it as belonging to Special Constable Kapanye-police service number 502079. "We agreed that first thing next morning Caninius should take the diary back to the police, report the case and get his passport back. But the next day he was groaning with pain and we advised him to go the clinic."
However after telling the story of events, the clinic refused to treat him, saying he needed a police report.
"That is when I drove him to Gxhabara clinic, advised him to turn around the story and say that he had fallen down. He was in severe pain and needed urgent treatment.
"Little did I know that I had created a crack that these unscrupulous officers are now using to cover up their shoddy deeds," she said.
"The way that Station Commander Robson Malika reacted when I approached him with the complainant was unprofessional, undermining and disrespectful, telling us that there was nothing special about the case as similar cases of people complaining about broken arms have been pending in his office for more than eight years. He even told me to stop telling him stories and asked whether I was at the scene to point a finger at his officers," Rita added.
Assistant Superintendent Sitali Phuthego of Maun police admitted knowledge of the case, but said the Zimbabwean's story was cooked. He said that on the day of the incident Special Constable Kapanye and others were on a clean up campaign when they came across the complainant and others. Upon seeing the police he and his team had started running away and the cops gave chase. That is how Kapanye said he lost his diary," the officer asserted.
He went on to say that Tanyanyiwa might have got hold of the police diary by going back to the scene and picking it up. About the broken arm, he said the complainant had fallen while escaping from the police. He denied that his passport was in their hands.
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Meanwhile the hapless Zimbabwean remains an illegal immigrant and cannot get hospital staff to remove the plaster from his arm until he brings them a police report.
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