Put Zimbabwe first, police officers told

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) needs loyal and dedicated officers who put their country and people first, Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga has said. He warned police officers to shun behaviour that might bring the police and the country into disrepute.

Addressing 40 officers on Thursday who recently returned from the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission duties in Abyei and Darfur, with two other officers expected to go to Sudan and Somalia on a similar mission, the Commissioner General said: "I am aware that peacekeeping duties are never a stroll in the park and even as the returning contingents recount various encounters during their stint, that fact became apparent to all of us.

"They witnessed first-hand the frailty of life and how the horrors of war shatter societies. It is this realisation that continues to prod us as an organisation to relentlessly encourage all Zimbabweans to cherish peace, unity and love. It is also this bitter reality of the destructive impact of armed conflict that makes your selfless service partnering with diverse peacekeepers from around the world in helping rebuild peaceful and crime free societies praiseworthy," he said.  

He urged the returning officers to foster and engender peaceful and crime-free societies through various policing initiatives.  

"I also implore you to draw lessons from all the situations that you grappled with during your international peacekeeping stint. 

"Now is the time to blend such experience with that of your colleagues back home as you collectively seek to make our country free from the malady of crime," Comm-Gen Matanga said.
Comm-Gen Matanga urged the departing officers, as they partake the task ahead, to always be mindful that the primary goal they are being sent is to foster and sustain peace.  "It is also noteworthy for you to remember that your colleagues that have served in many other UN missions across the world before you set the bar high.  

"For that reason, never for a moment should you lose sight of the fact that we have sent you to be ambassadors of the organisation and indeed of our beloved nation, Zimbabwe.  

"It is incumbent upon each of you to shun any form of behaviour that might bring the ZRP, our country and indeed the United Nations into disrepute. Exhibit the highest standard of discipline and ethical conduct at all times," he said.