Human life is sacred

A sad incident occurred in Harare’s central business district (CBD) on Wednesday morning when a motorist gunned down a “parking marshal”.

A lot of versions of the story started circulating on social media but later in the day, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) issued a statement clarifying the incident.

According to the police statement, the 24-year-old man parked his vehicle along Angwa Street and left his sisters in the vehicle.

After a few minutes, a group of five “parking marshals” approached the vehicle occupants and demanded payment for parking.

The women then called the owner of the car to return and solve the matter with the group.

When the man returned to his car, all hell broke loose as an altercation with the “parking marshals” ensued.

At some point during the melee, the owner of the car pulled out a gun and shot one of the “parking marshals” in the head at point blank range.

The victim died instantly from the gunshot wound which sparked chaos in the CBD as a mob then attacked the driver.

His Subaru Touring Wagon was torched by angry citizens while some shops had their windows pelted by stones before the police finally intervened to quell the situation.

The sad reality in this whole episode is the fact that a 40-year-old, who was probably a breadwinner, is no more while a 24-year-old’s entire life has been totally turned upside-down.

Life is a precious commodity which should be treasured at all costs.

“Your ordinary acts of love and hope point to the extraordinary promise that every human life is of inestimable value,” prominent anti-apartheid cleric Desmond Tutu of South Africa once said.

There is need for tolerance and understanding if Zimbabwe is to move and develop as a nation.

Wednesday’s incident could have been avoided if both parties had exercised restraint.

However, they allowed testosterone to fuel their actions without first thinking of what consequences were in store.

The official parking fees in the CBD are $1 for an hour while the self-imposed marshals charge at least $0,50.

This basically means two lives have been greatly affected over a disagreement for a little amount of not more than $1.

Dialogue should be the only option in such instances but unfortunately, all the parties involved in Wednesday’s incident chose otherwise.

This should be a lesson to all Zimbabweans to desist from using violence in solving disputes. DailyNews