The ManicaPost
CRIME is a topical issue the world over as it counters community development. Governments are pouring billions of dollars in combating the vice, ensuring public safety, maintaining order and subsequently stirring economic growth.
Manicaland, being endowed with vast natural resources, has the potential to experience an economic boom in line with the country’s Vision 2030, which seeks to attain an upper middle class economy in the coming decade.
It is important to note that economic sectors like tourism do not thrive in areas that are associated with criminal activity.
Unfortunately, the province has been recording a litany of criminal activities that include armed robbery, machete gang attacks, smuggling, burglary, fraud and violence, among other crimes. This is having a negative impact on the provincial economy. Considering that the police are in the spotlight in terms of crime detection and prevention, our Senior Reporter Abel Zhakata (AZ) caught up with the Officer Commanding Manicaland Police, Commissioner Dr Wiklef Makamache (CWM). We publish here excerpts from the interview
AZ: The smuggling of second-hand clothes and other types of contraband into the country is a topical issue along the border with Mozambique. The continued smuggling of these products is badly affecting local companies, are you winning the fight against this vice?
CWM: The border with Mozambique is extremely porous. It has not been easy to completely seal off the border from illegal cross-border activities. However, a number of arrests have been made. We have also been recovering goods worth huge amounts of money, for example the recent recovery of 715 television sets that had been smuggled into the country.
With the few resources at our disposal, we are trying our best to man the border and curb smuggling.
AZ: We have received several reports that some rogue cops who are supposed to safeguard the borderline are actually facilitating smuggling. How are you dealing with this issue and have there been any arrests made so far?
CWM: On the issue of rogue police officers facilitating smuggling along the borderline, the ZRP has stressed that corruption will not be tolerated. We have been urging the general public to come forward and expose corrupt police officers. However, we are not getting these reports or tips-off. We cannot deal with unreported cases.
So our biggest challenge is that citizens are choosing to ignore those cases. In some instances they are choosing to be part of the unruly acts. Otherwise the laws that deal with corrupt members of the society, the police included, are in place.
AZ: In terms of illegal gold and diamond miners that are prospecting without licences and causing environmental degradation, how far have you gone in flushing out them out? Are you sealing off any mining sites to ensure that the illegal paners do not continue wreaking havoc?
CWM: We are committed to wiping out illegal panning of precious minerals in order to avoid its resultant negative effects on our people, the environment as well as flora and fauna.
The force with which we have recently descended on illegal panners is evident that our drive is not only meant to scare them away, but to ensure that we eradicate the scourge. I believe it is not a case of the resources at our disposal, but about the strategies we are employing to deal with the panners.
AZ: Cases of armed robbery are on the increase in the province, with families and corporates falling prey to armed criminals. Are you winning this battle against these armed gangs?
CWM: It might be of interest to note that armed robberies rarely go unreported, let alone escape the attention of the police. It is unfortunate that robbery cases are committed by mobile gangs who usually move from place to place around the country. This often poses challenges in their apprehending them, although our criminal profiling provides us with information on people likely to be committing the offences. We have been able to account for most robbery cases committed by people residing in the province.
AZ: People are being mugged at night. It seems like night patrols are not being conducted frequently in hot spots. What are you doing to rectify this so that people can feel safe at night?
CWM: We cannot confirm an increase in cases of people being robbed but we have been able to apprehend the perpetrators in the few reported cases. The perpetrators are usually familiar with their victims. Therefore we do not have hot spots based on crime occurrences. We have crime prone areas that are either too dark or isolated.
While we concede that the police may not be adequately resourced in terms of manpower and other resources, we have resorted to deploying to targeted areas. We are still unable to completely cover the whole province in the way we want.
We have been activating specialised units. We have also improved on intelligence gathering and the public’s crime awareness in order to ward off crime.
AZ: Drug abuse is now widespread and perpetrators are doing so in public. It seems like the police are not doing enough to stop this. What strategies do you have in place to create a drug abuse free society?
CWM: I am not sure if the cases are as widespread as you suggest. Our stations and the unit that specialises in the investigation of cases of this nature have recorded many arrests and recovered drugs that were being peddled in the community. This, we understand, has been deterrent enough to any person who may want to deal with drugs.
We, however, know that the crimes are occurring. We often carry out targeted roadblocks and deployments to fish out peddlers and end drug abuse.
AZ: Is the Manicaland community doing enough to support the police in combating crime?
CWM: Yes, the community is playing its part, but they are not doing enough. There is still a wide gap. The co-operation of the police and the community would go a long way in combating crime. Their relationship is like that of fish and water. Police are the fish and the community is the water.
If members of the community do not play ball, this will hinder police work. A community has expectations and it is the duty of the police to work and ensure that those expectations are met.
The people who are committing crimes come from the community and they are well known. For example, rape cases involving juveniles take long to be reported because people at home want to cover them up.
More often than not, these cases are reported from school.
Teachers are the ones bringing up these reports because people at home are sweeping them under the carpet. The same applies to robberies. You will see that the criminals who are perpetrating these crimes go back to the community to spend their ill-gotten wealth.
No one is asking why a certain unemployed person is spending so much money so recklessly. Robbers are well known for spending lavishly, but no one is alerting the police about such individuals. Such tip-offs would be helpful.
The police and the community are partners in the fight against crime.
