The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has redeployed at least 30 senior officers among them assistant commissioners as well as 739 other cops across the country.
By Everson Mushava/ Simbarashe Sithole
NewsDay gleaned a leaked radio communication from the Police General Headquarters human resources department dated August 10, which shows the redeployment of top cops from the rank of senior assistant commissioner to assistant commissioner was with effect from August 21.
This paper also has another communication dated August 14, which redeploys about 739 junior officers from the rank of inspector to chief inspectors.
According to the August 10 document, the transfers had been approved and were with immediate effect.
National police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba and Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyati will remain in the police public relations department.
Senior Assistant Commissioner Moses Magandi will remain as leader of police intelligence, among many stationed at the police headquarters and most provincial heads.
“Transfers: the following transfers have been approved and should be implemented immediately,” the document, dated August 14 that transfers 739 junior officers, read.
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Harare, Manicaland and Bulawayo provided the host of the officers redeployed to other centres, with 94, 60 and 58 respectively, while Matabeleland regions had the least figures, with only 26 transferred from Matabeleland South.
The redeployment did not spare the Minerals and Border Control Unit, with Midlands and Mashonaland West provinces topping the list with six each.
The radio communication indicated 175 Criminal Investigation Department officers from homicide, law and order, vehicle theft squad and commercial crime, among others, from the country’s 10 provinces were also transferred.
The movements came at a time Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga had promised to make some structural changes to the force with the view of bringing sanity.
The transfers followed hard on the heels of promotion of over 1 600 officers countrywide last month ahead of the July 30 polls, a move described by observers as a way of reaching out to the force whose fortunes plummeted last November after a military operation that deposed long-time ruler Robert Mugabe.
There has been seemingly some bad blood between the police and other security agencies in the new dispensation, with a deputy minister in President-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration, Terence Mukupe, last month claiming the ruling Zanu PF could not trust police officers who voted for MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa in a secret ballot.
Mnangagwa’s rule saw the retirement of nine senior police offices at the rank of senior assistant commissioner in what observers claimed was a political purge.
In February, over 400 more officers from the rank of assistant inspector and below were transferred.
Charamba confirmed the transfers, which she said were necessitated by the recent promotions that took place in the force.
“The transfers came following the promotions that have been taking place. It is normal to transfer officers because others have assumed higher offices,” she said.
“Secondly, the transfers enable effective policing in any organisation. There is nothing unusual, promotion and transfers have been happening over years.”
