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Herald Reporter
Harare City Council has suspended eight municipal police officers and two water department officials for alleged corruption.
The officers were suspended for, especially, demanding money for shop licences without authority or taking bribes to set free motorists they would have arrested for parking over a white line.
The city’s corporate communications manager Mr Stanley Gama announced the suspensions on the local authority’s Facebook Page.
Those suspended were named as: Takudzwa Majachani, Sipiwe Matavire, Taurai Guregure, Hebert Mukumba, Tonderai Nyikadzino, Douglas Nyemba, Ignatius Pesvani, Newman Mhereyenyoka plus street parking supervisors only identified as Mapfumo and Muringisi.
Mr Gama urged residents to report any suspicious transgressions by council officials.
“On October 21, 2024, at Reliance Mall, Harare CBD, patrol women Takudzwa Majachani and Sipiwe Matavire, who are under the Environmental Patrolwomen Unit, masqueraded as police officers who were mandated to carry out shop licensing duties when in fact, they were not mandated to carry out such duties.
“In furthering their purported duty, they demanded shop licences from a shop owner at the mall.
“Their actions were inconsistent with their duties,” he said.
Mr Gama said in a separate incident, on October 21, 2024 at Superbrite Soap Manufacturing Company, Workington, Harare, Patrolmen Guregure, Mukumba, Nyikadzino and Nyemba masqueraded as police officers mandated to carry out shop licensing duties.
“They were intercepted by a team of investigators and found in possession of 4×12 bars of soap they had allegedly extorted from Superbrite Soap Manufacturing Company.
“Their actions were inconsistent with their duties,” he said.
Mr Gama said on October 24, 2024 at 80 Mama Mafuyana Drive in Mabelreign, council employees Ignatius Pesvani and Newman Mhereyenyoka who are under the Harare Water Department also masqueraded as metro-police officers who were on licensing duties.
He said they then demanded shop licences from Kartoque company, but were arrested by members of the public and handed over to ZRP Mabelreign Police Station.
Their actions were inconsistent with their duties, he said.
Mr Gama said on October 26, 2024 along Julius Nyerere Way in the city centre, parking supervisors Mapfumo and Muringisi arrested a motorist for parking over the lines. They then allegedly demanded a US$20 bribe to set him free.
“When they were handed the demanded money, they disembarked from the car they had earlier boarded to take it to Central Stores for impounding.
“The two parking supervisors acted in a manner inconsistent with their duties in that they demanded a bribe in exchange for letting a car they had impounded be driven away,” he said.
Mr Gama said the actions of the two caused irreparable damage to the institution as their actions were captured on video by the complainant who later shared the incident on social media.
Online Reporter