ZRP police officers resume bribe collection at roadblocks

By Samson Muchirahondo

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) have since resumed the collection of bribes and illegal spot fines from motorist subsequent to returning to the country’s major highways, ZWNews.com can exclusively reveal.

Motorists plying the Gweru Shurugwi highway have seen rogue police officers getting back to their old tricks of soliciting for bribes.

In an interview, a commuter omnibus operator who identified himself as Courage Ncube said traffic cops manning the Gweru-Shurugwi highway are slowly getting back to their corrupt ways.

“After the ushering in of the new dispensation through operation restore legacy by the Zimbabwe Defense Forces (ZDF) the ZRP traffic team were working very well, but the cops are now soliciting for bribes from motorist especially commuter omnibus operators.

“The Cops have brought in a new tactic which motorist term the delay 4-4-2 formation.The cops tell you to park beside the road and they ignore you long enough to frustrate the passengers, this will automatically prompt drivers to offer them bribes so that their commuter omnibuses get passage in time,” said Ncube.

The commuter omnibus operator also revealed that the bribes are tagged at $2 for kombis and $5 for haulage trucks, those who are new to the system will spend more than 20 minutes parked beside the highway.

Another Motorist, Brian Musundire said the rogue officers have set up bribe-collection centres on several roads including the Gweru KweKwe highway (Regina Mundi) Kwekwe Kadoma Road and the Shurugwi Mhandamabwe road.

These corrupt activities come at a time when Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga warned his subordinates to shun corruption or any conduct that compromises the credibility of the force. zwnews