of the public to purchase goods at give away prices.
There was drama at TV Sales and Hire electrical shop along Fife Street in the city centre when six people, two of them women, were arrested after pretending to be members of the taskforce.
Some people who had been advised to stand in the queue and wait for their turn to purchase electric gadgets, later jeered the bogus officials as they were handcuffed and whisked away by the police.
The deputy officer commanding Bulawayo province in charge of operations, Assistant Commissioner Crowd Chirenje, confirmed the arrest of the six people – one of whom has a pending criminal case in the courts.
The accused persons are Mthunzi Mabhena of Nkulumane, Bhekizulu Dube, Tinashe Chikara, Lucky Ndlovu, Sibongile Sibanda of Nketa and Dorcas Moyo.
“We arrested six people who stormed into TV Sales and Hire and claimed to be members of the taskforce. They then demanded the shop owners to reduce their prices. When the shop owners advised them that they had already complied with the government directive, the suspects told them to further reduce their prices,” he said.
Asst Comm Chirenje said the shop owners called the police and informed them about the suspects, which then led to their arrests.
“We would like to advice the public and shop owners that if they are suspicious of anything or anyone claiming to be a police officer or a member of the taskforce, they must report the matter immediately to hotlines that are being publicised,” he said.
A source that followed the proceedings while at Haefelis food court said that the suspects entered the shop and ordered the owners to slash the prices of their wares.
“The four suspects entered the shop and introduced themselves as members of the taskforce on Price Monitoring and Stabilisation. They then ordered the owners to reduce their prices as a government directive. Some customers who were in the shop then decided to stick around as they hoped that they would leave with some electrical gadgets after the price slashes,” said the source.
The people then started queuing outside as the six suspects were “slashing” prices.
“We were surprised to see a queue developing at the shop. We then heard that there were taskforce members who were slashing prices. While people were queuing, we saw a police vehicle arriving at the shop,” he said.
The police officers did not raise any alarm. They also went on to organise people who were already queuing.
“The police officers who arrived in a police vehicle did not raise any suspicions and went into the shop. After a few minutes, we saw them coming out with six people in handcuffs. Two of them were women,” he said.
The witness said when people in the queue realised what had happened, they became furious and began jeering the suspects.
One of the “customers” who was in the queue said she could not believe that some people could just get into a shop and claim to be taskforce members.
“I was one of the people who were in the shop when the suspects arrived. I was convinced that they were taskforce members. While we were inside with a few customers, we were then told to go and form a queue outside the shop as they were slashing prices,” she said.
The witness said they were shocked to see the very same people in handcuffs and being taken into a police vehicle.
“When the police vehicle arrived, we were convinced that the people inside the shop were part of them. I became confused when I saw the suspects coming out of the shop in handcuffs. That is when it dawned on us that they were people masquerading as taskforce members,” she said.
The witness said she believed the owners of the shop called the police to find out if those who were already in their shop were part of them, which then led to their arrest- CAJ News.