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Stealing
from the state and impoverishing the nation: Zimbabwean traffic
police officers pocketing huge sums of money through bribes at checkpoints
Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-Southern
Africa)
November 05, 2012
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Executive
Summary
Corruption by
Zimbabwean Republic Police (ZRP) traffic officers is worsening.
On the 9th of October 2012, police officers manning checkpoints
between Plumtree and KweKwe were paid bribe money for which they
did not issue any receipts.
However, police
officers between Plumtree and Bulawayo were more corrupt as compared
to their colleagues between Bulawayo and KweKwe. They were paid
bribes at six (6) of the seven (7) checkpoints, which constitute
85.7% prevalence. The 8th incident took place on the 20th of October
2012 close to Redwood between Plumtree and Bulawayo. There were
five (5) checkpoints between Bulawayo and Gweru and only one incident
of corruption was recorded at 11:24 a.m on 9 October 2012, when
the driver was stopped for over speeding.
The driver begged
for forgiveness but the police officers demanded a bribe which he
paid before being allowed to proceed. No receipt was issued. There
were no incidents of corruption between Gweru and Kwekwe.
The sin of corruption
is now deeply rooted to such an extent that the culprits are demanding
bribes publicly as if it is normal to do so. This raises eyebrows
on why they are not arrested since there is no secrecy about their
dealings. It should be very easy for the ZRP management or administration
and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to catch the
culprits red-handed and prosecute them.
Furthermore,
the number of random checkpoints (also known as flying checkpoints,
mobile checkpoints, or hasty checkpoints) were too many, which significantly
delayed and milked motorists. The bus departed Plumtree border post
at 7:26 a.m and arrived in Bulawayo at 10:10 a.m, over a distance
of 100 kilometers, and the delays emanated from police checkpoints
where police officers were negotiating bribes.
In addition
to the above, some police officers have accumulated wealth which
they cannot justify against their monthly salaries. Using proceeds
of corruption, some police officers bought personal vehicles and
commuter omnibuses of their own which operate hassle free and some
have bought houses to name but a few.
The findings
also suggest that traffic officers share their daily bribe takings
with their bosses in the offices, failure which they risk being
transferred to non-lucrative assignments.
In its 2010
report named Mini-Assessment
Report: Corruption by traffic police officers and vehicle drivers
in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe', ACT-Southern Africa
made the following recommendations:
- The governments
should monitor their traffic police officers on a constant but
irregular level to ensure that those involved in corrupt activities
are caught and exposed;
- Whenever
possible, governments should lay traps and all those caught should
be prosecuted and dismissed from the police service;
- Anti-Corruption
bodies should be empowered to deal with these kinds of offences
to ensure that they augment the police, which in many instances
cannot fairly investigate itself; and
- Finally,
laws, policy and practice should be established that encourage
whistleblowers to come forward and report corruption, especially
those that feel tempted to pay bribes.
In keeping thereof,
the above recommendations are reiterated. The report also makes
additional recommendations.
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