Some junior police officers, who spoke to The Zimbabwean in the countrys second biggest city of Bulawayo, revealed that they last had what was supposed to be their regular supply of uniforms in 2006, while others said that they last received new uniforms in 2007. We last received uniforms before the 2008 elections and these were not even the right sizes. The uniforms were either too big or too small,” said an officer.
Those who were unfortunate not to receive any have been forced to wear the same tattered clothes because we are told that the ZRP does not have enough money to buy us new ones, said the junior police officer, who cannot be named for security reasons. Some of the uniforms have already been condemned and cannot be worn to work, meaning that we now have to wear our own clothes while at work and that means buying something new every month, yet our salaries are still very low.
The junior officers, who earn between US$120 and US$190, complained that despite wearing their own clothes to work, they are not being paid a clothing allowance. They said members of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) who put on plain clothes, used to get an allowance. The bosses tell us that we are not entitled to the plain clothes allowance because we are not officially allowed to wear plain clothes at work. The whole thing is just discouraging because our bosses have all the money to splash on their families, yet there is nothing for us.
A senior police officer, based at the Harare Ordinance Stores, which provides police officers with the uniforms, told The Zimbabwean that they have since stopped accepting requisitions for new uniforms from junior members, as they had become a waste of both time and stationary. There are no uniforms at present, with the few that we have being reserved for senior police officers. We do not know when the regular supplies will resume and cannot reveal much detail about that at the moment, said the senior police officer.
The officer said that a regular supply of uniforms is when the officers get at least a new grey shirt every three months, new shoes every six months and a grey jersey every year, but revealed that the last time the jerseys were supplied was way back in early 2006. There are no more trench coats for the junior officers night shifts, meaning that they will have to suffer the effects of the cold weather this winter.
This new mishap adds to the poor working conditions already bedeviling the junior ZRP officers, who are failing to find free accommodation inside police camps, where those fortunate enough to be accommodated are crammed together in what is meant to accommodate one officer. The junior officers also no longer receive bicycles, while police vehicles have already been made a preserve for senior officers and their families. Police national spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena, refused to comment when asked for comment.
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