"Police Are Corrupt" - ZANU PF Minister

Nicholas Goche (above) is a senior minister in Mugabe's ZANU PF and has now come out openly to accuse the police of corruption. Perhaps he is unaware who it is that has encouraged that corruption in the police force. Next time he meets Mugabe or Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, he should ask them and I am sure they will tell him. Tsvangirai also added his voice to that of Goche, which is just yet more proof that today's speeches were mere politicking and not informed by any principle or plan of action

Harare, Zimbabwe, 27 August 2009

Yes, this is noteworthy and newsworthy in itself.

One of Mugabe's most senior ministers and a ZANU PF negotiator in the process that led to the formation of the limping Coalition Government in Zimbabwe, Nicholas Goche, has publicly accused the police and vehicle inspection department (VID) of corruption at a Stakeholders' Conference held in Harare today.

The conference was a Road Transport Stakeholders Conference on Disaster Mitigation.

Goche, who is the minister of transport and communications in the Inclusive Government, told the gathering:

"Traffic regulations are not being observed by corrupt law enforcement agencies, especially the police and VID."

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who delivered the keynote address, lamented the state of Zimbabwe's roads and blasted the underpaid and understaffed medical profession saying, "Our medical response is appalling and slow, , the state of our vehicles is worrying as most of them are not roadworthy. The state of our roads, especially major highways, is not good as most of them need to be redone."

What is interesting, apart from the newsmaking value of a senior ZANU PF minister accusing the police of being corrupt (forgetting that the corruption has been incubated and hatched by his party) is the fact that both the minister and the Prime Minister are speaking as if they expect someone else to solve the problem.

Today, although toll gates have now been installed in Zimbabwe, the money is not being used to repair roads but is instead being diverted to feed the immense greed and gluttony of this Inclusive Government.

The tolls collected are going straight to Treasury to fung US$11 million foreign jaunts, US$5 million Nyanga retreats, painting of government buildings and hiring of cars for ministers and their functionaries.

The Prime Minister, who lost his wife in an accident blamed on a black spot that is badly in need of resurfacing, should know just what this sort of neglect can lead to.

90 people have so far died this month alone due to accidents on Zimbabwe's roads and this statistic is blamed largely on human error as Zimbabweans continue to drive recklessly even as they travel over pockmarked and potholed roads.

Goche's mouthings on the corruption of the police should not be taken seriously.

For one thing, I know for a fact that the underpaid police force are actually encouraged by the government to set up random roadblocks to rais money for salaries and other expenses towards the end of each month.

A police highway patrol team that I engaged a few months back along the Masvingo road explained the situation to me thus:

"We are given this Mercedes Benz (the police patrol car), with only ten litres of fuel in it and we are told to make a plan to fill up the tank and proceed with our job. We have no option but to set up these roadblocks or stand at traffic lights fining people until we get enough money to fill up the tank, and then we can go onto the highway to patrol and inspect cars and buses."

Indeed, we can plead poverty on behalf of the government, which leads to this sort of things, but there are also many Zimbabweans facing daily poverty yet they do not turn to crime because of the poverty.

Zimbabwean society is fundamentally sick in this respect and this Inclusive government is doing nothing to treat that sickness.