Don't arrest to investigate, says Obert Mpofu

HOME Affairs minister Obert Mpofu has warned police officers to avoid rushing to arrest public officials on "unfounded claims" before exhausting their investigations.

Speaking at the official launch of Zimbabwe Republic Police's anti-corruption unit in Harare yesterday, said law enforcement agents should not be swayed by "unfounded claims".

"Our mandate is very clear. It is to deal with corruption decisively after thorough investigations and not to follow speculation and rumours," he said.

"Allow me to say that corruption is one of the greatest evils of our time. It is a cancer that rewards those who do not play by the rules and also creates a system of distortion and diversion, thereby destroying all efforts aimed at constructive, just and fair governance."

The police anti-corruption unit, which falls under the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), will take its finished cases to the yet-to-be-established commercial crimes courts.

Mpofu said the failure by authorities to deal with corruption was affecting public confidence and economic recovery.

"Therefore, as we commission the Zimbabwe Republic Police's anti-corruption unit offices, we remain alive to the echoing cries from the concerned citizens of our nation. Theirs is a genuine call for us to rid society of the monster called corruption," he said.

Mpofu has in the past been accused of corruptly amassing wealth across all sectors of the economy, but was recently cleared by Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission's investigations boss, Goodson Nguni.

Speaking at the same event, Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga said his troops were geared to root out the vice.

Chief Justice Luke Malaba told journalists that together with other stakeholders of the Justice Service Commission, they had established electronic methods of tracking cases from the police stations up to the courts in a bid to avoid collusion and corrupt tendencies.