adminKamangeni Phiri Midlands Bureau
THE Police General Headquarters in Harare is still in the dark over the alleged assault and humiliation of a Gweru-based junior woman police officer by Assistant Commissioner Musarashana Mabunda, the Acting Officer Commanding Police in the Midlands.ZRP national spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba has said Police Headquarters only heard of the alleged assault from reading Chronicle.
Snr Asst Charamba also revealed in an interview that the alleged victim, a Constable Muroyiwa, was never brought before a hearing committee last week as alleged.
Said Snr Asst Comm Charamba: “Let me start by stating that it’s false that the constable was brought before a police court. Officially, I don’t know anything on this matter serve for what I read in the Chronicle.
“I’m surprised that some officers could rush to the press to report a purely internal indisciplinary matter. On issues of indiscipline, police officers know who to approach and where to go. They understand the procedure. Indiscipline is not dealt with in newspapers. The officers who approached you are fully aware of this.”
Snr Asst Comm Charamba said the police the world over is supposed to be a highly disciplined force guided by the Police Act. She said the Act is used to handle issues of indiscipline within the force not hearsay.
“The law is applied indiscriminately across the board. If an officer has an indiscipline case, he or she is dealt with regardless of rank. The Police Act will deal with those who are found guilty. Indiscipline has not started today in the police but we’ve been handling such cases internally without problem. They (the police officers) could probably be pushing an agenda known to them to fix their senior.”
Sources, however, said Asst Comm Mabunda was reprimanded for his unbecoming conduct by a team of senior officers that met last week.
The source said: “It was felt that Asst Comm Mabunda’s conduct was not proper. He is fairly new in the province and the assaulted officer is also new. The ideal thing was for Asst Comm Mabunda to introduce himself since he was wearing civilian attire. The team comprised other assistant commissioners and senior officers in the force reprimanded Asst Comm Mabunda, strongly condemning his actions.”
On Sunday, a fortnight ago, Asst Comm Mabunda allegedly slapped a breast-feeding female junior officer before strip-searching her and subjecting her to humiliating frog jumps in front of suspects after she allegedly failed to salute him.
Asst Comm Mabunda is said to have also kept Const Muroyiwa, of Nehanda Police Station in Gweru’s Mkoba 19 suburb, locked up in police holding cells overnight.
The police boss was said to have been clad in civilian attire when he arrived unexpectedly at the station. Const Muroyiwa was the Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of the 2PM to 10PM shift on that day.
Asst Comm Mabunda arrived at the station in a commuter omnibus that he had apparently impounded. He was in the company of a man suspected to be a police officer who was driving the kombi. They had a number of passengers on board.
He ordered junior officers to call Const Muroyiwa, who was feeding suspects in the holding cells. He allegedly ordered Const Muroyiwa to take down the particulars of the kombi passengers.
Asst Comm Mabunda then identified himself and the constable immediately instructed other officers to freeze and salute their superior, said sources.
He allegedly ordered Const Muroyiwa to go on a bun walk position (frog jumping) and the lady complied. Asst Comm Mabunda allegedly asked the constable if she felt embarrassed by the punishment because of the presence of the passengers.
He is said to have called the passengers to witness her moment of shame but they refused. This apparently incensed the boss who then instructed Const Muroyiwa to go to the cells.
Asst Comm Mabunda allegedly ordered Const Muroyiwa, who was in riot gear, to remove her belt, STU cap and shoulder titles. He searched Const Muroyiwa from the waist up and shortly thereafter clapped her on the left cheek hitting her left ear as well.
Online Reporter