By Nyasha N Mukapiko
The ever growing cases of crime rates in Epworth have left residents taking stringent measures to protect their belongings with recent reports of some in poultry farming sleeping inside fowl runs, as police fail to play their crucial role in curbing theft which has become a song in suburb.
Last year at round table discussion hosted by the Media Center which was meant to overheard the obstacles faced by women in marginalized areas, an unidentified lady grieved over the state of insecurity in Epworth revealing that it was pointless for one to go and report a house break-in to the police after realizing they were not doing any follow ups.
Aleck Banda a once victim, blamed the police for being treacherous citing their failure to bring to book those who where breaking the law.
“The police only demand a list of the stolen goods and allow you to open a docket before assigning you to go and look for the offender or to report back to them upon identifying your stolen product being sold elsewhere”, Aleck Banda said.
Another resident from Epworth Sarah Njanji also concurred with Banda by further acknowledging that there was a total ignorance by the law enforcement agents in dealing with theft in the high density suburb.
“Theft cases in Epworth continue to rise; the police are not doing their job. If you leave your house unattended at night, the following day you will wake up to nothing. During the night our doors are knocked and banged”, Sarah Njanji added.
The two residents further went on to urge the police to recruit more Neighborhood Watch officers as a way to help them combat crime rates.
Member of Parliament for the constituency Hon Amos Midzi expressed ignorance over the reports saying he was not aware of such cases.
“The residents have not yet communicated to me about such cases; I’m only hearing it from you. However I have a very good working relationship with the law enforcement agents so I will approach them and look into the matter.
MP Midzi also blamed the increase on crime on sprouting of illegal settlements around the area.
“The major contributor to the rise of cases of theft is accelerated by the growing number of illegal settlements; I have already commenced working with the local authority to make sure that these settlements are well developed into formal”, MP Midzi said.
Speaking during, Harare Provincial Spokesperson Inspector Memory Pamire refuted the allegations leveled by the Epworth residents saying there were no cases like that.
“We as the police don’t operate that way, our duty is to serve the people not asking them to apprehend culprits as you are alleging” said Pamire
These reports come at a time when many Zimbabweans have been complaining about too many traffic police officers being deployed on the roads. It is surprising that police have bought state of the art vehicles to use on the roads but little has been deployed to fight crime in the communities.
If the residents are not pleased with our service they are free to lodge complaints on what we call ‘Complaints Against Police’ and to my surprise we have never received any reports from Epworth since last year ”, the Harare Provincial Spokesperson argued.
Harare Provincial Spokesperson urged the residents to come and report an abuse of office by the police or to call on the following number (04) 748836.
