Council suspends 8 municipal police for corruption

EIGHT Harare City Council municipal police officers have been suspended pending disciplinary hearings on allegations of extorting money from motorists they arrested for traffic violations.

The accused officers allegedly demanded money from motorists, promising to drop charges against them.

In a statement, Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Stanley Gama said council would take disciplinary action against any officers found guilty.

“The City of Harare has noted with concern, serious transgressions and unprofessional conduct by some elements within the municipal police, some of which have been captured on various media platforms.

“Mayor Clr Jacob Mafume and Town Clerk Engineer Hosiah Chisango are currently seized with the matter and appropriate action will be taken.

“Some municipal traffic police officers are terrorising residents by extorting money from motorists under the guise of having arrested them for traffic violations. The victims are subjected to all sorts of intimidation until they part with their money,” said Mr Gama.

Residents should report any cases of criminal activities to municipal police.

“This is a serious offence and the city has in the past few weeks been investigating the illegal activities by these individual rogue elements within the municipal police. The city council would like to assure residents that it is taking measures to put an end to this.

“To this end, the city administration has gathered evidence of illegal practices against at least eight officers who have since been suspended while investigations continue.

Some of them were identified by victims at a parade. They will go through the normal disciplinary hearings.

“In order to flush out these rogue elements, the city council has since appointed an anti-corruption crack team that will react and investigate such reports with speed,” said Mr Gama.

“The team will also be carrying out operations to catch the criminals in the act. Members of the public and the business community who encounter suspicious demands from municipal police officers or council employees must report such issues to the Acting Chief Superintendent Investigations, Harare Metropolitan Police on 0773 390 787 or 0242 751 820.

“The city is also working on making sure the municipal officers have name tags so that they can be easily identified by residents.”