ZRP pledges improved service delivery

We publish opening remarks by the Commissioner General of Police Tandabantu Godwin Matanga at a meeting between Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Obert Mpofu and senior police officers last week.

Honourable Minister Sir, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to you for being present with us here today.

Only recently, you were with us at the official opening of the new CID Headquarters and Forensic Science Laboratory.

I am quite confident that we are taking a leaf from your readiness to be with us in our greatest time of need.

Such exemplary conduct should inspire us to do the same to our subordinates at the various stations of their deployment. We sincerely thank you Honourable Minister for that.

This meeting is critical for the generation of ideas which should impact on the lives of the people of Zimbabwe, our visitors, their safety, security and the security of their property.

This is the second meeting with you Honourable Minister inside two months. In my view, this clearly attests to the extent for your deep-seated commitment and desire to see the Zimbabwe Republic Police churning out the best possible policing services to the people of Zimbabwe.

Undoubtedly, there are numerous operational dividends that accrue from platforms of this magnitude.

Biblically they say, ‘‘It is good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity.” We, thus, Honourable Minster, truly cherish having you with us today and also as our Minister.

Honourable Minister following the directive you gave to all departments under your portfolio, we undertook to make the police more visible on the ground.

The aim is to reassure the public on their safety and remove the fear of crime.

In order to make good this promise, the Zimbabwe Republic Police has identified a number of sections that tend to unnecessarily duplicate work or whose continued existence may no longer be necessary.

Consequently, some stations are being downsized to make them more viable while other functions will be merged.

The recent massive transfers from Depot are examples designed to fulfil this desire. Honourable Minster, very soon, we shall be launching the Zimbabwe Republic Police patrol unit in Harare Central and Chitungwiza Districts.

The purpose of the patrol unit is to ensure that there are police officers deployed round the clock on crime prevention duties.

The patrol unit will be rolled out to all urban areas and cities.

In addition, Honourable Minister, the organisation shall be launching traffic de-congestion teams at all the major intersections starting with Harare.

We are currently in the process of training traffic officers who will control traffic movements at identified traffic intersections and they will use whistles together with “smart” hand-signals for the purpose.

These measures will be attained within the first 100-day period.

We are also taking steps to reconfigure our cycle unit so that it is deployed in residential areas such as Waterfalls, Marimba, Glen Norah, among others.

It is hoped that the cycle unit will operate more effectively in areas where there are reduced volumes of vehicular traffic.

Again, the idea is to improve police visibility and crime prevention.

The ZRP shall, as an on-going initiative, analyse current establishments within its structure to identify redundant stations and sections or those whose functions are operationally duplicative of others.

All these initiatives will in due course be replicated in other provinces.

And, resources permitting, the cycle unit shall also cover the industrial areas.

Our desire is to ensure prompt attendance of crime scenes and deterrence of criminals from committing crime.

Indeed, we remain seized with our role in the socio-economic development of our beloved nation.

Another area that will be given immediate attention is that of improving communication with the populace.

In this regard, the organisation will relocate its call centre from Chikurubi to Police General Headquarters for control purposes.

The call centre will be enhanced and restructured to ensure that concerns from the public get responsible attention.

I am also confident that we should be able to achieve this within the first 100-day period.

While resource constraints remain a challenge, Honourable Minister Sir, vakuru vakati kusatenda huroyi. We have witnessed first-hand how you speedily procured furniture for the new CID Headquarters.

We really thank you for the support, Honourable Minister.

Given the limited fiscal space obtaining in the country, this was no easy achievement.

Honourable Minister Sir, as an organisation, we will come up with a battery of initiatives to improve service delivery and supervision.

To this end, meaningful performance shall determine officers’ placement and promotion.

Honourable Minister Sir, we are currently giving new impetus to the anti-corruption strategies in place to rid the ZRP of corrupt police officers.

On the other hand, Honourable Minister Sir, we are dismayed that politically motivated violence is rearing its ugly head in some parts of the country.

This is despite repeated calls by His Excellency, the President of Zimbabwe Cde E.D Mnangagwa, for zero tolerance to political violence and promises of peaceful, free, fair, and credible elections.

We are equally mindful of the negative effect of violence on the credibility of the forthcoming national plebiscite.

To this end, the Zimbabwe Republic Police shall heighten intelligence-led policing mechanisms as well as police visibility in order to ensure that the atmosphere before, during and after elections remains peaceful and violence free.

Above all, we shall remain steadfast in bringing all perpetrators of violence to book by enforcing the law as it is, and without fear or favour.

Honourable Minister Sir, at times, the success of our police operations is impeded by political interference.

However, with your able guidance, we are confident that our presence shall be felt. What we promise is that we shall always seek to deliver.

Before I conclude, allow me Honourable Minister, to personally express my profound gratitude to you for your tremendous support throughout my stint as Acting Commissioner General.

I am fully aware that you played a pivotal role in my ascendency to my new rank. On my own behalf and that of my family, I sincerely thank you for that.

I promise to work diligently in justifying the faith you reposed in me.

Finally, let me say once again, siyabonga, tinotenda, we thank you for your presence with us here today. The Sunday Mail