‘Suspects Provide Stationery At Most Inadequately Supplied Police Stations’-Chinotimba

Most police stations do not have stationery and suspects are being asked by police to provide their own.

Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba (Zanu-PF) claimed that in the rural areas police officers failed to clear livestock for sale due to lack of transport.

He said this could encourage payment of bribes to get a police officer to clear livestock without verification.

“People intending to clear their livestock for sale outside their designated areas are told that the police do not have transport.

“The procedure for the clearance of livestock for the purpose of selling is that a police officer has to visit the cattle pen belonging to the person intending to sell his/her cattle. The village head and witnesses should be consulted in order to confirm proof of ownership,” Chinotimba said.

“However, instead of the police following that procedure, people are just visiting the police station to clear their cattle at a police station without any proof of ownership,” he said.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Obedingwa Mguni said there was no government policy that required investigating police officers to use their own funds to finance investigations.

“However, the country is facing a backlog on the financial side where some of the patriotic officers end up bringing innovativeness in their investigations and do something from whatever they have, but that is not government policy.Most police stations do not have stationery and suspects are being asked by police to provide their own.