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Investigations Editor
HARARE City Council has disowned municipal officers using metal bars to immobilise vehicles for traffic offences saying these culprits must be reported to the authorities.
Following a ban on the use of hand held spikes countrywide, with only the very heavy strips of spikes permitted at static police roadblocks, which would exclude municipal staff, some corrupt council staff working with bogus municipal officers have allegedly resorted to inserting metal bars on wheel rims of moving vehicles as a way of immobilising them and extorting money from the drivers.
They claim to be municipal police officers in plain clothes and pose a serious threat to human life.
Some will be municipal traffic officers who are off duty but working with criminals to instil fear in motorists and so they can demand bribes.
At times they even produce council identity cards but the way they conduct themselves tells a different story.
Some are still throwing spikes at vehicles, a practice that council has always condemned.
Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Innocent Ruwende said council does not use spikes or metal bars to immobilise vehicles for traffic offences.
“We don’t use spikes or any other similar materials. Council does not have spikes which they use during traffic enforcements.
“We urge members of the public to ensure that they ask for identification from anyone purporting to be a member of city council or municipal police,” said Mr Ruwende.
Two men claiming to be council traffic officers at the intersection of Chinhoyi Street and Robert Mugabe Road in Harare have become notorious for throwing iron bars and extorting money from motorists.
Yesterday morning the pair clashed with a motorist, who had dropped his children along Robert Mugabe Road.
One of them, who was wearing a red T-shirt, placed a metal bar on the vehicle’s front rim to immobilise it while the other one spoke to the motorist.
“Yes, we no longer use spikes but the use of this metal bar is as good as clamping a vehicle, which is permissible,” he said.
Attempts by the pair to extort the motorist failed after other people joined in, accusing them of corruption.
The pair disappeared as many people gathered. Neither was wearing a municipal police uniform.
A fortnight ago, the Zimbabwe Republic Police banned the use of hand-held spikes by police officers enforcing traffic regulations countrywide following an outcry by members of the public.
Any member of the force who defies this directive will be arrested and face both criminal and stern disciplinary action.
This comes as police officers have been blamed for causing accidents in which people have been killed while others seriously injured after they allegedly threw the light spikes on moving vehicles they would be trying to stop.
Police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga said any police officer who defies the directive will be arrested and face both criminal and stern disciplinary action.
No police officer is allowed to move around while holding or carrying spikes under the guise of traffic enforcements.
Online Reporter