MARONDERA - Morale has hit all time low among junior police officers based at the provincial and district headquarters here, as they are forced to carry out general farm duties at a police farm project.The project is located at a farm grabbed from Sam Lewis by the police during land invasions. There are no civilian labourers employed at the farm and police officers are forced to prepare the land, sow seeds and do manual cultivation of fields. “We are disturbed by the abuse of police officers by the assistant commissioner responsible for provincial administration, Theresa Mthambeni. Affected junior officers wrote a letter of complaint to the Police General Headquarters for the anomaly to be addressed, but no response has been obtained. It is degrading and demoralizing for police officers to be turned into farm labourers. More so when proceeds from the project benefit senior officers only,” said a senior police officer in Harare.
Money made by the farm project is shared by senior officers, according to the police source. The cash is sometimes used to buy tyres for government and personal vehicles owned by senior officers. “Mthambeni is a law unto herself and administers police affairs like a private enterprise. She does not respect dignity of junior officers and deploys them at the farm, at a time the force complains of lack of manpower to curb crime.
No one can recall her as she is directly linked to Grace Mugabe. It is embarrassing for a police officer to be assigned to herd cattle and work the land using a hoe at the farm. Some officers are considering resigning from the police if the trend is not addressed,” said the source.