Officers in darkness as police fail to pay Zesa connection fees

AT least eight police officers including a police superintendent are living in the darkness because their employer has not paid electricity connection fees at their allocated pool houses within the multi-million-dollar civil servants complex in Beitbridge.

This comes amid claims that some officers at head office want the affected officers to pay some bribes to have the US$450 connection fees for each housing unit disbursed to the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company.

National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, however, said the situation was not confined to Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) housing units alone but the entire complex.

"It is not affecting ZRP houses alone but it's affecting all departments," Nyathi said.

"The situation is being looked into by the government and will be normalised soon."

But NewsDay established that all other departments allocated houses in the gated modern complex built as part of Beitbridge's redevelopment project including the border post upgrade have been connected to the national grid after their respective departments paid the connection fees.

"It is only the police who have not paid for the connection since we were removed from the dromedary bulk to individual unit meters," a police source said.

"Their houses are dark and without electricity."

One affected policeman who spoke on condition of anonymity said some of their colleagues at head office are demanding bribes to process payments for electricity connections.

"As a result, some officers are already applying for loans to connect their houses to be able to use household electrical appliances," he said.

"Some have already paid the connection fee from their pockets, but our salaries are too low to cover for that. Nyathi was misled."

Police accommodation at Beitbridge is inadequate and appalling with most officers transferred from Beitbridge holding onto houses in the police quarters.

Most of them are said to have kept their families in Beitbridge hoping to relocate back to the border town where there are rich pickings from corrupt cross border deals including smuggling.

The complex is located away from the hustle and bustle of the border post set-up; they are in a serene atmosphere where nature smiles.

Set at the foot of Maware Hills, otherwise known as Woman's Breast Hills, the 252 houses were part of the government's noble Beitbridge redevelopment project.