- Junior officer arrested for inciting others
- Defiance was collective action
- Juniors say they are incapicitated
A ZIMBABWE Republic Police junior officer at Mzilikazi Police Station was last week arrested at his workplace.
Constable Benson Mushayi, who is stationed at Mzilikazi, is facing allegations of inciting other police officers refuse to enforce a delegated operation, citing poor working conditions within the force.
A Zim Morning Post source said working conditions within the force were deplorable, adding officers were no longer encouraged to do work.
The source said officers now mostly go for as long as 12 hours – the duration of an operation – on empty stomachs.
“It was around 0700hr on Thursday when junior police officers refused to be deployed.
“They demanded that their bosses come to the station so they could say their grievances to them,” said a source who refused to be named for fear of victimisation.
Zim Morning Post heard that junior police officers blankly told their senior supervisors at the station that they were incapacitated, citing poor salaries and allowances.
The junior officers said they were not able to fend for themselves and their families, with some saying they were now three to four months overdue in rentals.
“Our supervisors informed their superiors, resulting in the Officer in Charge at the station attending the parade in civilian attire,” said our police source.
“The Officer in Charge threatened us, saying it was our duty to maintain law and order so that society lives peacefully,” the source said.
According to the Zim Morning Post source, the decision to snub last week’s Bulawayo operation was collective.
This publication heard that all things considered, participants in such operations should be supplied with food for the duration, which was not the case here.
ZRP Bulawayo spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele refused to comment on the matter, saying she was waiting for a response from her superiors who were locked in a meeting.
The police service has since last year been on operations to thwart mooted demonstrations by the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC and civil society – and now the MaShurugwi menace
