Cops Turn Badges into Cash Machines

Rutendo Mazhindu

Zim Now Reporter

Police officers entrusted with enforcing the law have instead been caught abusing their positions for personal gain, turning their badges into tools of extortion.

Recent convictions in separate cases have exposed a disturbing pattern of corruption within law enforcement, raising serious concerns about accountability and public trust.

At the Harare Magistrates’ Court, two constables from Mbare Police Station, Naume Dube ,31, and Victoria Shonhiwa ,36, were found guilty of extorting money from motorists. The duo transformed the station’s main gate into an illegal toll booth, demanding US$1 from every driver passing through on March 11, 2024.

Acting on a tip-off, the Internal Investigations Department conducted surveillance and caught the officers red-handed.

Upon arrest, Dube was found with US$80, while Shonhiwa had US$40.

A handwritten list of vehicle registration numbers—suspected to be a record of their illicit collections—was also recovered. The officers were immediately handed over to the Police Anti-Corruption Unit for further investigation.

Meanwhile, in Chinhoyi, the Magistrates’ Court convicted two traffic officers, Desire Mangombe ,30, and Macdonald Tapesa ,32, for orchestrating an extortion scheme targeting local transport operators.

The officers allegedly demanded a US$60 weekly bribe from Tafadzwa Bvunzawabaya, a manager at Wolfspack Transport Services, in exchange for allowing company vehicles to pass through roadblocks without harassment.

Their scheme unraveled on September 15, 2022, when a sting operation by the Police General Headquarters in Harare used marked US dollar notes to trap them.

As soon as the officers accepted the bribe at their station, they were arrested, and the trap money was recovered as evidence.

Both were convicted of violating Section 174(1)(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23] and sentenced to 490 hours of community service.