By Evans Dakwa
Sekuru Manhambara is a veteran of the liberation struggle and is wheel chair bound from some of the injuries he suffered during the war. Together with his wife they are subsistence farmers who survive from market gardening and whatever handouts their children send to them as and when they can. On the night of July 5th, a daring thief pounced on his sugarcane crop, a stone throw away from his homestead, and fortunately the intruder was apprehended by the community after an alert passer-by singled him out after hearing the squelchy noise from his shenanigans in the sugarcane crop.
The nonagenarian Sekuru Manhambara automatically became the complainant in the matter and he had to accompany the accused to the nearest police base at Chabwino to open a case. That he did, and arrived at the police base at around 8 am only to find a deserted police post. The old man patiently waited for the officers on duty to arrive but he did not.
By the time this reporter arrived at the police post, the visibly agitated old man’s patience had literally run out and it was 11 am. Efforts were made to get the number of the alleged officer on duty on the day one constable Alifandika and upon calling him, indicated he was 30 mins away which turned into hours.
Quizzed on why his 30 minutes was turning into what seems like an epoch, the police officer replied with a daring “I am almost there and but if you want you can go or else come and get me at the compound am having my lunch there.”
Together with a colleague, we went around the farm compound frantically searching for Officer Alifandika and when we got to him, he was smoking a cigarette visibly drunk making a mockery of a person on duty. His colleague whose name could not be ascertained was in no better state. Sekuru Manahambara was eventually attended to at around 14:30 hours, a good 6 and half hours later bringing into question the whole purpose of having a police base when it cannot serve the people efficiently.
The rude and uncaring manner in which Constable Alifandika handled the whole ordeal smacked of someone who has gone rogue and detached from the police charter, the foundation upon which the service is built upon
One of the reason why the Zimbabwe Republic Police established police bases across the country is to bring policing services closer to the people. A glean through the Police Services Charter screams a statement that buttress the mandate and declaration to be people oriented police service provider that seeks to maintain law and order towards the socio-economic development of the people.
Efforts to get a comment from Police National Spokesperson , Commissioner Paul Nyathi were fruitless as he was said to be in a series of meetings