ZAKA – Zaka Police Station has gone for three years without a Police vehicle despite policing a district that has some of the highest crime rates in the country including murder and rape.
Cops take long to arrive at crime scenes and last Sunday it took them four hours to arrive at Pelillendaba accident scene where five members of the ZCC perished in a bus accident. Pelilendaba is just 30km away from the Police camp.
Acting District Administrator Ndeya Nyede who is chairperson of the District Civil Protection Unit is also a pedestrian after his Government vehicle developed a fault months ago. Traditionally his office should assist Police with transport in times of disasters.
On Sunday night a bus carrying ZCC congregates was involved in an accident at Pelilendaba and Police details from Zaka arrived at the scene three and half hours after the accident after ambulances and Police from Triangle had almost finished assisting people.
When asked for a comment, national Police spokesperson Senior Ass Commissioner Charity Charamba said the vehicle allocated to Zaka was involved in an accident and the station will have to wait until all stations get new vehicle allocations.
A senior police officer at Zaka who requested not to be named said the Police station is relying on vehicles owned by police officers to do various duties including attending crime scenes as well as carrying accident victims to hospitals or mortuaries.
The force recently acquired a fleet of new vehicles which are being used by traffic Police and seniors at district levels are driving Ford Rangers.
DA Nyede said he found an Isuzu truck which was being used by his predecessor not working but efforts to repair it are underway. He said his office relies on cars borrowed from other Government departments. – Masvingo Mirror
