Online Reporter
Trust Freddy
Herald Correspondent
Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has defended the deployment of plain-clothed municipal police, saying the city will use “all and every tactic in the book, lawfully” to regulate residents and motorists to clamp down on illegal pickups, reckless driving and crime in the CBD.
Cllr Mafume was responding in a full council meeting to Ward 41 Councillor Kudzai Kadzombe, who raised concern over allegations that municipal officers were using dolls strapped to their backs as decoys to trap drivers at undesignated passenger pickup points.
It is alleged that a female municipal officer hitchhikes at undesignated spots pretending to be feeling cold, before revealing she is carrying a doll, identifying herself as municipal police, and arresting motorists for picking passengers illegally.
Cllr Mafume neither confirmed nor denied that a woman pictured on social media with a doll strapped to her back was a council employee.
But he said civilian officers were lawful and needed to deal with offenders who evade uniformed police.
“We will use all and every tactic in the book, lawfully, to make sure that we regulate the behaviour of residents and the behaviour of motorists,” Cllr Mafume said.
“We will not create an impression that we want to run an uncomfortable city. People must understand that they must be governed and there won’t be portions of areas where we can’t govern.”
He described motorists’ conduct as “atrocious”, linking it to accidents and fatalities.
“People pick up passengers at undesignated spots and drive as if they are auditioning for Formula One,” he said.
“They create accidents. People are dying every day. We are losing prominent daughters and sons simply because people don’t want to be policed. They must be policed.”
The mayor said women were bearing the brunt of crime in town and questioned reliance on visible policing alone.
“People are being robbed. This town is no longer safe for young women. They can’t even move in the streets without someone grabbing their hair,” he said.
“Do you think we will stop them by waving signs and saying ‘here is municipal police, here is ZRP’? We are going to take policing measures.
“You must behave when you come into town. Just stop committing the criminal offence. Period.”.
On the viral image of a woman carrying a baby, Cllr Mafume said he had not received confirmation from the Chamber Secretary’s office.
“You know social media, it can be someone’s imagination running wild. That woman might simply have been standing there with a baby for the genuine reason of being transported,” he said.
Mafume maintained that both uniformed and civilian municipal police were empowered to enforce by-laws.
“If there is a person committing a crime, they are committing a crime, and they will be caught by a plain-clothed and uniformed policeman. Period. Don’t commit the crime,” he said.
He added that the city could not remain unsafe “simply because we are afraid to make our people put on plain clothes.”
