ROGUE COPS DESERVE PUNISHMENT

THE two rogue police officers, who turned a Mabvuku turn-off roadblock into their cash cow by receiving ‘gifts’ from motorists, will spend, at least, FIVE DAYS, in custody after their initial court appearance.
Sergeant James Chifamba and Constable Trymore Mukunza were caught on camera accepting bribes from drivers of kombis, taxis and public service vehicles in a video that went viral, leading to their arrest.
They appeared before regional magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa charged with criminal abuse of duty.
They are set to appear in court again today.
The State alleged that the two were deployed on duty to conduct traffic enforcement duties.
They had specific duties to stop motor vehicles and check for any violations.
It is the State’s case that contrary to their assigned duties, the two would not check for violations but proceed to wait for the drivers of vehicles to approach them, have a brief conversation and receive considerations.
The State claims that through their actions, they showed favour to the motorists in question, acting contrary to their duties.
The two, through their lawyers, will file a written bail application today and prosecutor Anesu Chirenje will file a response.
It’s good that these two rogue cops have spent some time behind bars. If they had just appeared in court for a day and were released it would have sent a wrong message that the crime they committed was a petty one.
It would have sent a message that its not a serious crime for cops to be on the road and be filmed taking bribes from kombi drivers.
This is a serious crime.
It’s such conduct which has led to some of the horror accidents we have seen on our roads.
The accidents happen because kombis, which should be off the road for one reason or another, are given the greenlight to continue operating.
These kombis are allowed to ferry passengers even when it’s clear that they should be off the road.
It’s not about kombis only.
Even the big passenger buses are given the greenlight to ferry passengers when it is clear that they should not be on the road.
While the policemen would have got some cash, it’s the safety of the passengers that is at stake.
The system is designed to ensure that this does not happen and that is the reason we have cops on the road.
That is the reason we have cops at our stadiums, when football matches are played because we need them to ensure that law and order is maintained.
When such cops end up helping to break what they are supposed to maintain then we have a big problem. We are happy that the police are also looking for the kombi drivers who were paying those rogue cops.
They are also part of this criminal enterprise and they deserve to be punished.
They also broke the law because they were paying bribes to try and beat the system.