adminThupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
THE government is working on a raft of measures to tackle corruption, particularly within the police force, Home Affairs Minister Cde Kembo Mohadi said.Cde Mohadi said the government has adopted zero tolerance on corruption, describing it as a cancer affecting economic development.
“As government, we’re worried with the rise in corruption in the country, especially within the police force and we’re working on a number of measures to bring the criminals to book,” he told heads of government departments during a meeting to scrutinise the Zim Asset programme in Beitbridge at the weekend.
He added: “Very soon, we will be having gadgets that will be recording every transaction at roadblocks with the view of reducing corruption.
“We are getting a lot of unpleasant reports about some of our officers.”
He said the “gadgets” would be directly transmitting information to the police general headquarters, adding that plans were at an advanced stage.
Cde Mohadi said it was also morally wrong for police officers to own transport companies, which put them in competition with private players.
“We’re aware that there are police officers operating pirate taxis and omnibuses. This is morally wrong, such a set-up gives them an unfair advantage,” he said.
He said several police officers had been fired for corruption last year, warning that the net was closing in on other bent cops.
“We need to bring back confidence in the police force by getting rid of bad apples among us. We’ll continue dismissing those found on the wrong side of the law and they will be prosecuted,” he said.
He said they were working on a plan to intensify transfers of police officers from strategic areas such as border posts as a way of reducing corruption.
“We need to come up with regulations to deal with corruption in tempting areas such as ports of entries,” said Cde Mohadi.
Online Reporter