Harare sets up anti-graft crack team to deal with ...

Harare sets up anti-graft crack team to deal with errant council cops

Oscar J Jeke

The City of Harare has come up with a cocktail of measures to curb transgressions by its municipal police officers, which include establishing an anti-graft crack team and giving them name tags.

This comes in the wake of reports of harassment of residents and extortion of motorists in the city’s jurisdiction under the guise of having arrested them for traffic violations.

In a statement, City of Harare Spokesperson Stanley Gama said the Mayor and Town Clerk are seized with the matter.

“His Worship the Mayor, Cllr Jacob Mafume and Town Clerk, Engineer Hosiah Chisango, are currently seized with the matter and appropriate action is being taken.

“Some municipal traffic police officers are terrorising residents, 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.

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

The City of Harare spokesperson also highlighted that they are considering issuing the council police officers with name tags for ease of identification.

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

Recently, the Combined Harare Residents Association alleged that errant council workers are demanding bribes for them to attend to sewer bursts and other service delivery issues.

“Residents are billed for sewerage and should not be required to pay any money when the need their sewer bursts to be repaired,” Combined Harare Residents Association Chairperson, Precious Shumba, said then.