Some 320 police officers were fired last year for stealing and abusing their office at roadblocks and other offices, Minister of Home Affairs Ignatius Chombo told the Senate yesterday.
Responding to a question by Senator Sithembile Mlotshwa on how his ministry regulated roadblocks per kilometre and what their purpose was, Chombo said roadblocks were a legitimate exercise to make sure that vehicles were controlled.
There were, however, some bad apples within the 50 000–strong police force.
“The police are doing a wonderful job under very difficult circumstances and I will be the first one to admit that out of all the 50 000 police officers that we have, some of them might not be forthright as you and me would want,” he said.
“Last year, we dismissed 320 police officers for stealing and abusing their offices at road blocks and other offices. So the police is keen to clean up those police officers who are contravening the laws that they are supposed to uphold.”
Chombo also said there were a lot of cars that were stolen from Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa that were plying Zimbabwe’s roads.
Q & A:
HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: Thank you Madam President. My question is directed to the Minister of Home Affairs. Minister, how do you regulate the number of road blocks per km? What is the purpose of them? Have you revised the strategy, seeing that you breeding are corruption by the issues that are written brought in the newspapers of bogus policemen and some of them manning road blocks? Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS (HON. DR. CHOMBO): Madam President, thank you again for giving me a chance to respond to the matter raised by Hon. Sen. Mlotshwa. The issue of police and road blocks has been with us for quite some time now. The police are doing a wonderful job under very difficult circumstances and I will be the first one to admit that out of all the 50 000 police officers that we have, some of them might not be forthright as you and me would want. Last year, we dismissed 320 police officers for stealing and abusing their offices at road blocks and other offices. So the police is keen to clean up those police officers who are contravening the laws that they are supposed to uphold.
To give you a little bit of comfort in terms of the activities on the road blocks. Road blocks are a legitimate exercise to make sure that the cars that we were talking about, the mushikashikas and illegal Combis are controlled. We also have a lot of cars that have recently come in, either stolen from Mozambique, Zambia or South Africa plying our roads. So, it is our duty to make sure that we apprehend the culprits. However, there are also other cars legitimately bought, but those have avoided paying tax at the boarder or have not yet been properly registered, that are plying our roads. So we want all those motorists to be accounted for.
