Police warn criminals

Police said they have enough resources and manpower to deal with any kind of criminal activity during the festive season.
They, however, appealed to people not to have a negative perception of the police as they were there to serve them.
Matabeleland region is every year a hive of activity and usually records high criminal activities during the festive season due to the influx of injiva.

Matabeleland South has the busiest border posts, Beitbridge and Plumtree and the busiest roads especially to Bulawayo as people from the region return home.
However, police said they were geared to minimise criminal activities and traffic accidents like what happened during the previous festive season.
Salibonani Njiva, would see the force intensifying operations at the country’s main entry points like Victoria Falls, Plumtree, Mphoengs, Maitengwe and Beitbridge.
Asst Insp Makonese said the operation and awareness campaign would end on 15 January.

“We have launched Salibonani Njiva and a festive season awareness campaign. The two are running concurrently as we expect an influx of people into the country from the neighbouring countries,” she said.
“We expect many injivas and they usually take advantage of long queues at the border posts and commit crime. Some even become violent when they get home and start fights within their communities. We are also aware most of them bringing in weapons and we would be in full force at roadblocks to guard against such behaviour.”

The police said they expect a lot of activity because of the Unity Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day where people usually travel to different destinations.
“Usually we get a lot of tourists coming to Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World which means we have to be on the lookout,” said Asst Insp Makonese. “This period also usually has a lot of traditional gatherings involving a lot of travelling while the New Year’s Eve usually has wild celebrations resulting in people destroying property and as police, we are saying that should stop. People should be responsible.”
The police awareness campaign would see police educating members of the public and conscientising them on road rules and to drive safely, warn them about dark spots and of using defective vehicles.
They would distribute fliers and posters.

“The intention is to have a crime free festive season and if there is any, it should be minimal. As police, we will continue to arrest those who commit crime and drive unroadworthy vehicles. We cannot fold our arms and allow anyone to commit crime and those who do so would be brought to book,” said Asst Insp Makonese.
The police also warned members of the public and businesses to make sure their premises were properly locked when they close for the holidays to avoid attracting burglars.
Insp Dzirutwe said they would be focusing on the most common and problematic crimes of robbery, rape, stocktheft, and unlawful entry and traffic offences.

He said police had managed to contain crime at minimal rates compared to last year and hoped figures would remain low until the end of the season.
“We are more than ready for the festive season as we have all the resources in place to guard against crime and educate members of the public on how to reduce crime,” said Insp Dzirutwe.
“We have classified the festive season to be the period between November and 15 January where we are mainly focusing on the common crimes like robbery, rape, stocktheft, unlawful entry and theft and traffic offences. According to our trend, cases have gone down basing on the figures we have so far and we are geared to keep these figures as low as possible.

“We have recorded 22 cases of robbery compared to 136 last year, 12 rape compared to 78 last year and there is so far a 10 percent decrease in cases of stocktheft where about 61 cases have been recorded compared to 185 last year. We think this is so because most livestock thieves have been arrested.”
Insp Dzirutwe said the 103 cases of unlawful entry recorded so far were worrying despite being lower than 309 cases last year.

He said many people were buying cars, meaning there are a lot of new drivers on the highways thereby increasing danger on the roads.
Insp Dzirutwe warned motorists against drunken and careless driving and urged them to exercise caution.
“People should desist from the practice of drunken driving and driving without licences. So far four people have died from road accidents and we hope to keep the figures very minimal. As police, we do not want life to be lost and hope people would also continue being responsible,” he said.

The police appealed to members of the public to cooperate by reporting any suspicious activity in their communities and to avoid carrying large sums of money and to lock their premises or leave them in the custody of responsible people when travelling.