Police must prioritise passenger safety

📅 Published: August 20, 2025

📰 Source: zimbabwesituation

Curated by AllZimNews.com

Corruption in the force is no longer an allegation whispered in dark corners; it is a lived reality for motorists, commuters and ordinary citizens.

Each day, countless Zimbabweans are harassed at illegal “roadblocks,” fleeced at police stations or left stranded because officers refuse to perform their duties without inducement.

In Bulawayo, residents complain that police expend more energy on beerhall and bar patrols, targeting drinkers, rather than addressing housebreaking, robbery and other violent crimes.

On the highways, what should be routine traffic enforcement has degenerated into open extortion, where officers demand bribes under the guise of spot checks.

At many stations, dockets gather dust until palms are greased.

The picture is one of a police service consumed by self-interest.

Nowhere is this rot more visible than on the roads.

A disturbing case in point is Zanamwe turn-off in Chitungwiza, where kombi crews allegedly pay US$3 per day to traffic officers.

For this fee, they are waved through even when their vehicles are overloaded, operating without licences or unroadworthy.

Passengers, often schoolchildren and workers, are crammed in unsafe vehicles whose continued presence on the roads is a daily gamble with death.

This practice is not just unethical — it is criminal.

Officers who take bribes are complicit in endangering lives.