Police blitz nets 105 vehicles
POLICE in Bulawayo have impounded 105 vehicles and arrested scores of errant drivers in an operation meant to restore order in the city.
e clampdown started on Wednesday and will continue until normalcy is restored to the streets of Bulawayo.
Unlicensed motorists and those who do not have proper papers for their vehicles have allegedly been trying in vain to bribe the uncompromising police officers.
Touts and hitch hikers, unlicensed vendors and illegal money changers are also being targeted in the ongoing operation.
For the first time in a long period, the police managed to clear kombis that pick up passengers from undesignated points along 6th Avenue.
A Chronicle news crew yesterday observed anti-riot police milling around 6th Avenue while a handful of defiant kombi drivers had shifted to a new pick up point.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango said the crackdown was just routine police work.
“This is just part of our police work. There is nothing new here but it is good that the public are observing our presence on the ground. We want to restore order on the streets of Bulawayo. On Wednesday we impounded 40 vehicles while yesterday we impounded 65 vehicles. I don’t have the
around management of housing development, land, levies, depleting revenue sources, among others have been of great concern to the local authorities. “With your support and cooperation, I want to assure you that I will vigorously pursue these and other pertinent matters with the urgency they deserve. A unity of purpose among all actors is exact number of drivers who were arrested in the process. I also do not have the figures of vehicles that have been impounded today,” she said.
Insp Simango said this time around police were not just targeting pirate taxis as the public is accustomed to but any vehicle which will be found without proper papers will be taken off the road.
She said the police have also closed gaps that allowed unscrupulous officers to solicit bribes during similar operations.
“We don’t condone corruption and we have been conducting internal workshops to improve our service. We are doing so because a lot of people have c omp l a i n e d that some of our officers were demanding bribes but we want to assure the public that we are implementing measures to curb corruption among our members,” Insp Simango said.
She said police were also targeting touts and residents who have a tendency of boarding kombis in important if the sector is to deliver tangible development.”
Speaking on the 2018 harmonised elections, Minister Kasukuwere said: “It is my expectation that local authorities will give particular attention to the functionality of public amenities and attendant public infrastructure in and around points that usually serve as polling stations. undesignated places promoting anarchy. Yesterday, kombi operators threatened to take their vehicles off the road in protest. “We are not used to this. More than 30 police officers descend on a vehicle and ask passengers to disembark before impounding it. They are not accepting bribes. No vehicle is perfect, so we’d rather park our vehicles,” said a kombi owner who declined to be named. Last night scores of commuters who are used to catching lifts at undesignated points that include 6th Avenue, Kalbro, Modern Motors, Mac’s Garage and Engen Garage and Nguboyenja along Luveve Road were stranded as pirate taxis and kombi drivers were afraid to stop for them. Mr Butista Asano Ndlovu, a Sizinda resident, said the blitz was an inconvenience to residents. “It may be long overdue but it’s disrupting the smooth flow of life. “Vendors are no longer there where we expect to find them. “Kombis are taking roundabout routes to the city centre to avoid the police thereby delaying us for work. “I took more than an hour to get to work today during a trip that usually lasts about 15 minutes,” said Mr Ndlovu. — @ nqotshili
“In this regard, I urge all local authorities to ensure that all strategic public facilities such as roads, halls, water and sewer reticulation are fully attended to.”
Minister Kasukuwere said all provincial and district administrators will be capacitated to ensure that they are able to enforce law and order in areas under their jurisdiction.