Cleared CID officer accuses ‘corrupt’ colleagues of set-up There is a problem within Maun’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) if one of its officers is to be believed. Describing the department as ‘rotten’, 49-year-old CID officer, Paphidzani Chivako accused his colleagues of driving him to depression, framing him for defilement. Having recently returned from suspension while the courts cleared his name, Chivako, is currently on leave because he cannot bear to share an office with comrades who nearly sent him to jail for a long time for an offence he never committed.
“I have problems in my life. In 2021, I was accused of defiling an underage girl. I was suspended from work for five years.
I was on half salary and my monthly deductions took everything and left my net at P00.00,” grumbles the Gxhabara ward, speaking to The Voice outside High Court, where he is the Investigating Officer (IO) in a murder case (see page 14). At the time, he was staying with his school-going teenage daughter. However, the single father’s crippling finances meant he had no choice but to send her back to live with her mother, who he had long separated from.
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“I could no longer afford her school fees, let alone feed her or provide necessities. Things were tough. The mother took over.” Because of the grave charge hanging over him, one by one his friends deserted him, including his then girlfriend.
“They no longer trusted me. They saw me as a paedophile, someone who cannot be trusted around their children, especially the girl child. It hurt so bad because I am not that kind of character and I have never been.”Adding to his frustrations and mental turmoil, everyone assumed he was guilty, including his bosses.
“I tried explaining to them that this was a set-up but they did not believe me. I wrote letters and nobody listened. This threw me into deep depression, so much that some people went about spreading rumours that I was running mad.
The same officers who framed me were rejoicing, spreading rumours that I was mad. I never went mad,” reiterates the tearful officer. Chivako has little doubt as to his colleagues’ motivation.
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