Residents declare take over from police

Bulawayo residents have declared that they are taking over the role of policing the city from the Zimbabwe Republic Police due to the ineptitude of law enforcement agents who in most cases complain of lack of transport to attend scenes of crimes when cases are reported thereby giving chance for criminals to run further away.

The president's remarks come in the wake of the spike in crime rate in Bulawayo with several armed robbery, housebreaking and murder cases being reported within a very short space of time.

The residents said relying on police has of late proved fruitless and useless and they were now deciding to take matters in their own hands.

"When we call the police they do not come at all or come after it's already too late with claims of being short-staffed or having shortage of vehicles to reach crime scenes. Therefore our youngsters have been most helpful in chasing away these thieves at night and we are looking forward to having them patrol at night for our safety," said Beatrice Mlambo

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) chairperson Ambrose Sibindi said the police have failed and accepted defeat as far as crime-solving is concerned.

"It is very clear that housebreaking and armed robberies are so rampant in Bulawayo of late and what is very unfortunate is that even if these cases are reported it seems the police are totally overwhelmed by the situation. So it's now clear that something needs to be done as a matter of urgency because the police have failed to contain the situation. I have even read in the media when the police boss said they are incapacitated, so to me he has just accepted defeat," Sibindi said.

Sibindi said since the police are failing to control the situation because of incapacitation, the residents must take action.

"There are a lot of suggestions and one of the members of parliament suggested that because of the increase of crime rate why not bring the army to assist if it means that the police have failed. However, because of the constitution, the army cannot deal with internal affairs," Sibindi said.

"The ball is now in our hands as residents to come up with watch guard groups that will have timetables in which each group will patrol the whole night because surely we can't rely on the police alone. We have to act because we can't have a country where people are being butchered day in and day out. That's unacceptable."

Sibindi said they hope the police will put their act together and the government must address the issue of shortage of police vehicles in Bulawayo with urgency.

Police Officer commanding Bulawayo province Commissioner Patton Mbangwa recently admitted incapacitation of the police in terms of vehicles and also blamed security companies for using fake guns and unarmored vehicles which make them fail to deal with armed robbers.

His remarks came in the wake of a robbery that occurred recently at the Parklands Choppies shop that ended in the theft of seven trunks of money involving Robicon security company.