Police commanders accused of “stealing” juniors’ allowances

Pamenus Tuso

Chimanimani—Police details deployed to guard the Chiadzwa diamond fields in Manicaland suspect that their bosses are diverting money due to them in travel and subsistence (T and S) allowances.

Junior officers who are on special guard and patrol duties at Chiadzwa told NewsHub that they had not been paid their travel and subsistence allowances for close to three years.

Their provincial bosses and those at the Police General Headquarters in Harare have not been able to explain to them why they were not paying the allowances, said the sources.

The police details told this publication that they were supposed to receive the equivalent of US$5 a day.

The diamond companies are reportedly remitting the money to the law enforcer.

Security personnel from the police Support Unit and the canine section are rendering their services to Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) at Chiadzwa.

The ZCDC was formed in 2015 following the expulsion of several miners that the government of the late former president Robert Mugabe accused of siphoning proceeds from Chiadzwa.

The company is wholly owned by the government through Defold Mine (Pvt) Ltd.

The police details are also providing security at Anjin Investments, a joint venture between the Zimbabwean army and a Chinese multinational, Anhui.

In addition, there has been a heavy presence of soldiers at the diamond fields, but it could not be immediately established if they were getting their allowances.

More police officers are deployed at Sandawana Mines, a lithium entity run by the state-owned Kuvimba Mining House in Mberengwa in the Midlands province.

Highly placed police contacts said these officer were not receiving their travel and subsistence dues at Sandawana too.

“We have not been paid our T and S for close to three years now. We have tried to engage our commanders over this issue on numerous occasions but no one has bothered to give us a satisfactory answer.

“We are working under extremely tough conditions here and we are entitled to those allowances as per our conditions of service,” said one of the police officers who refused to be named for fear of victimisation.

The police officers said their bosses asked for their banking details on the understanding that they would be used to transfer the T and S after deployment.

However, no money has been wired to their accounts since they commenced operations where they are permitted to rest for a week or two bi-monthly.

Another police source suspected that the bosses were diverting the money.

“We strongly believe that our commanders are receiving our allowances from the mining companies but they are not giving us our money,” said one of the details.

The police command has in the past been accused of withholding officers’ allowance during election time or when the details are deployment to provide security at music and other entertainment shows.

The officers also claimed that they were being forced to work without protective clothing.

“We attend blasting operations without proper safety helmets and masks. This is affecting our health,” said another low ranking police detail.

The police officers and dog handlers are deployed to the blasting sites so as to prevent intruders from breaching security to look for diamonds.

The ZCDC spokesperson, Sugar Chagonda, referred all questions to the police.

“I am not aware of the situation you are talking about. I do not comment on Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) operations.

“As far as I know, our police force is a well -structured and professional institution with well-defined channels of communication. I’m sure the ZRP press department will be happy to field your questions,” Chagonda told NewsHub.

The Manicaland police provincial spokesperson, Wise Chinyoka, referred all questions to national spokesperson, Paul Nyathi.

But Nyathi did not respond to several calls, emails and Whatsapp messages.