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A traffic policeman covers the body of a passenger who was killed when a commuter omnibus which was allegedly being chased by a fellow policeman overturned in Greendale yesterday afternoon. The policeman who was following in pursuit of the kombi reportedly sped off from the accident scene

Prosper Dembedza Herald Reporter
Two people died and several others were injured in two road traffic accidents in Harare yesterday as public transport drivers fled the police.One accident took place along Greendale Avenue with survivors saying the driver of the commuter omnibus was being chased by a cop on a motorbike, and the other along Simon Mazorodze Road when another kombi driver tried to evade a traffic officer.

Police say they are unaware that any force member was involved, with National Traffic spokesperson Inspector Tigere Chigome saying investigations were in progress to ascertain what caused the two accidents.

In Greendale, the kombi struck a kerb and burst its rear right tyre, sending it overturning after the driver tried to overtake another vehicle as he reportedly attempted to evade the police motorbike.

When The Herald visited the Greendale Avenue scene, the body of one woman was lying on the ground.
Ey witnesses said a “notorious” traffic cop they know as “Mutema” was chasing the kombi before it overturned. They claimed that “Mutema” hastily left the scene when he witnessed the accident.

They said the police must simply take licence plate numbers of offending public transport vehicles instead of chasing after them and potentially causing fatal accidents. Memory Chirikumarara, who was in the commuter omnibus and was treated and discharged from Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals yesterday, said the kombi driver refused to stop when the traffic officer told him to and when passengers also said he should pull over.

Another survivor, Peace Gova, told this paper as she lay in her hospital bed that the conductor encouraged the driver to increase speed and the cop gave chase .

In the other accident along Simon Mazorodze Road, which claimed one life, a tyre on the kombi also burst as the driver fled traffic police.
Twenty people were injured in that crash and were attended to at Harare Hospital. Insp Chigome appealed to commuter omnibus drivers not to flee from police so as to curb such incidents.