OPINION: Why ZRP And City Parking Are To Blame For Young Father’s Tragic Death In Front Of His Children

A young father is dead, murdered not by chance, but by the deliberate, callous actions of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and Harare City Council’s parking enforcement. His horrific death on 7 January 2026 at the corner of Robert Mugabe Road and Angwa Street was not an accident. It was the direct, foreseeable result of a brutal system designed to trap, punish, and extract money from citizens with zero regard for human life. While his terrified children watched from their car, two arms of the state executed a sequence of failures that culminated in his killing.

The ZRP and City Parking did not merely fail; they actively created the death trap. According to the detailed eyewitness account by Barney Mpariwa published on 8 January 2026, the ZRP first set the trap. Officers lay in wait at the junction of Robert Mugabe Road and the poorly marked Inez Terrace—a known revenue collection point, not a safety initiative. They pounced, fined the compliant driver, and sent him to pay. Then, with the man legally detained by their own process, City Parking moved in. Their marshals, displaying a ghoulish efficiency, clamped his vehicle. This was a conscious act of double punishment. The ZRP created the offender; City Parking immobilised his family. Their combined actions stranded a father and his young children on a dangerous urban corridor.

A Conscious Choice to Escalate, Not De-escalate

At every single point, authorities chose the most punitive, dangerous option. The ZRP chose to chase mushikashika (informal taxis) and commuter omnibuses in a densely packed CBD—a tactic they know provokes reckless, life-threatening evasion. City Parking chose to clamp a vehicle whose driver was literally at the police station settling a fine, rather than issue a ticket or show basic discretion. These are not errors in judgment. They are standard operating procedures for organisations that see citizens as wallets to be emptied, not people to be protected.

Consequently, the blame sits squarely and exclusively with these institutions. The fleeing driver who struck the man is a symptom of the environment the ZRP cultivates. As social media comments on the tragedy noted, police “hide” and “ambush” because their goal is capture and cash, not correction or safety. Commenter Obey Mashinga pinpointed the malice: “Why would police hide in places they know have no clear road signs?” The answer is simple: because the ZRP and City Parking are not in the business of public service. They are in the business of armed extortion.

An Hour of Abandonment: The Final Betrayal

The final, damning indictment is the aftermath. For nearly an hour, as first reported by H-Metro on 7 January, the dying man lay on the road. The same ZRP officers who were so swift to fine and chase provided no urgent medical aid. No effective emergency response was mobilised. This was abandonment. Having created the crisis through their actions, the state’s agents then left a father to die in the street, traumatising his children further. This hour of neglect underscores the truth: to the ZRP and City Parking, this man ceased to be a human being the moment his fines were paid and his car was clamped. He became collateral damage in their war for revenue.

This is not a systemic failure; it is the system working exactly as intended. The ZRP’s leadership has long tolerated, if not encouraged, a roadblock and chase culture that treats Harare’s streets as a hunting ground. City Parking’s marshals operate as a predatory militia, their clamps a weapon of financial coercion. Their complete lack of coordination—fining and clamping the same vehicle within minutes—is a feature of their avarice, not a bug.

Direct Accountability, Not Hollow Excuses

Therefore, we must reject any narrative that diffuses blame. The ZRP killed this man by initiating a dangerous chase in a crowded area. City Parking killed this man by rendering his family immobile and forcing him into a panicked, vulnerable state on a perilous road. Their combined, brutal incompetence was the direct cause of death.

We must name the guilty parties: the Harare City Council, which sanctions this clamping terror, and the ZRP Commissioner-General, who presides over a force that hunts rather than protects. They must be held personally and institutionally accountable. We demand the immediate suspension of the officers and marshals involved. We demand the permanent cessation of vehicle chases for minor traffic offences and the abolition of the predatory clamping regime.

This father’s blood is on the hands of the ZRP and City Parking. His death was a predictable outcome of their official policy. To offer condolences now is hypocrisy. The only fitting tribute is the total dismantling of the brutal practices that killed him. Zimbabwe deserves police and municipal services that protect life, not end it.