Charamba said that by getting out of their vehicles, drivers were fuelling corruption by giving police officers a chance to solicit for bribes out of the sight of passengers and members of the public. “At roadblocks a lot of corruption is happening in full view of passengers, especially in kombis.
We strongly encourage drivers to remain in their vehicles after being stopped at roadblocks. Drivers are only required to leave their vehicles whenever there is need to search the vehicle,” said Charamba while addressing a crime awareness campaign in Bulawayo last week.
She urged the public to make citizen arrests on officers seen demanding bribes and commuter omnibus crews who fork out the bribes.“When you see it happening, make a citizen’s arrest on both the driver and the police. Record details such as the registration number of the vehicle involved, the force number of the officer involved and also the time and location of the incident and report to the nearest police station,” said Charamba.
Corruption has been rampant among traffic officers with Zimbabwe police officers being rated the most corrupt in southern Africa. Addressing a Zanu (PF) conference in Gweru last year, President Robert Mugabe also criticized corrupt officers, saying they were tarnishing the image of the government.
Research carried out last year by the Ant-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa confirmed that corruption in the force was on the increase. Last year 123 police officers, 30 of them from the traffic section, were arrested for corruption and 32 have since been discharged from the force, while some cases are still pending.
Post published in: News
So now I can see that all vehicles will be searched so the driver can get out to bribe the police. Can you imagine trying to carry out a citizens arrest on a policeman at a roadblock. Why can’t the police higher officials curb corruption in their own force or are they all in on it as well?