Gasela’s tragic accident shows breakdown of rule of law on roads

SW Radio Africa

By Violet Gonda

26 April 2010

Zimbabwe’s roads claimed four senior politicians from both ZANU PF and the MDC-M, this weekend alone, raising more questions about the state of the roads, but more importantly, the way people drive in Zimbabwe.

ZANU PF Central Committee member Alice Nkomo died in a car accident Saturday night along the Bulawayo-Plumtree Road, together with three other people she was travelling with.
Also on Saturday the MDC-M’s Renson Gasela, Lyson Mlambo and Ntombizodwa Gumbo were killed in a road accident along the Zvishavane-Gweru road. The party said the vehicle slammed into a stationary front- loader when they were on their way to an MDC meeting in Shurugwi. Six other party members from the Midlands province sustained injuries and were taken to United Bulawayo Hospital.

MDC-M Education Minister David Coltart told SW Radio Africa on Monday: “We are all devastated by this. This is the loss of three outstanding colleagues who worked very hard for the party over the last decade.”

“I am particularly sad about Renson Gasela. He was an MP with me from 2000. He was a particularly outstanding MP and member of our party, both the former united MDC and the MDC under the leadership of Arthur Mutambara since 2006.”

“He was a principled man, had a great integrity and a thoroughly nice individual. A true patriot of Zimbabwe and I think people from across the political divide will acknowledge this.”

Gasela was the former MDC MP for Gweru Rural and the Party’s Secretary for Lands and Deputy Secretary for Information and Publicity. He was also a founder member of the original MDC and former general manager of the Grain Marketing Board. Lyson Mlambo was the party’s National Chairperson for the Disciplinary Committee and Midlands South Provincial Chairperson. Ntombizodwa Gumbo was the Midlands South Women’s Assembly Provincial Chairperson.

Commenting on the accident Coltart said some people might believe there was foul play, as Zimbabwe’s history is littered with examples of road ‘accidents’ being used to achieve a political objective through an assassination.

But he said; “I think in the circumstances of this case, we probably have to rule out foul play. It seems to me that this is just yet another example of the breakdown of law and order in the country. Where someone has had a vehicle breakdown, without lights and they have not bothered to put warning triangles or other warning signals.”

The Minister added: “Normally of course this would be met by a criminal prosecution. We would have police out trying to prevent this type of thing but it doesn’t happen in Zimbabwe because the rule of law has broken down.”

Also this month at least 25 people were killed and 39 injured when a bus plunged into a river bed near Chivhu. It is reported the accident happened on the same road where Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s wife Susan was killed in a road accident last year. Also this month a bus collided with a truck on the highway from the Zimbabwe-Zambia border crossing at Chirundu, killing 10 people.

Observers say there are people driving with no licences and a destroyed economy so drivers don’t have the money to maintain their vehicles. The police force, that should be enforcing traffic regulations, is used mainly to keep one political party in power.

All these unnecessary deaths are a said to be a sad example of how bad governance and the lack of the rule of law, affect peoples lives in many different ways.