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| NEWS > 15 January 2008 |
Other related articles:
City Targets Police Chief For
Marfa, Texas - The Marfa police chief is under fire as the city administrator and Mayor call for his resignation.
It all centers on an alleged list of evidence against the Chief of Police accusing him of corruption and calling for his termination.
City Administrator Jim Mustard accuses Chief J.D Wilbourn of: using intimidation tactics against city residents, padding payroll time sheets and even being insubordinate to the city government.
When it came time to vote, the city council decided to keep the chief despite the mayor asking for a second vote to terminate him.<... Read more
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AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
15 January 2008
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Zimbabwe: Stamp Out Corruption
SOME traffic police officers have made it their occupation to demand bribes from motorists especially those driving public vehicles and foreign registered cars, a senior judge said in Bulawayo yesterday.
Justice Maphios Cheda said this when he officially opened the 2008 legal year of the Bulawayo High Court.
He said while the police was doing a commendable job which had seen the crime rate for the region go down, there was need to stamp out corruption within the force.
Said Justice Cheda: "However, while a lot has been done by the police, there is still more to be done, particularly in those areas, which relate to traffic offences. It is now common knowledge that most police officers manning roadblocks are now concentrating on public transporters and foreign registered vehicles.
"The reason for this is obvious. Receipt of foreign currency into their own pockets appears to be a temptation too good to ignore. While we live in difficult economic times, it is important that those who are charged with public duties should not unlawfully enrich themselves to the prejudice of the public fiscus."
He discouraged motorists from enticing the police with bribes adding that the public does not seem to realise that payment of bribes far much exceeds payment of fines. Two cases of traffic policemen arrested on allegations of bribery have been reported in Bulawayo alone in the past two weeks amid fears that this might just be the tip of the iceberg.
In one of the cases, the suspects are alleged to have fleeced Zimbabweans working in South Africa commonly known as injiva of $60 million for "wrong parking" while in the other case traffic policemen were arrested at a roadblock in the city for allegedly taking bribes.
Justice Cheda also expressed concern at delays by the Public Service Commission in appointing regional magistrates saying this amounted to denying litigants access to justice.
"The powers that be must address the issue of the shortage of regional magistrates urgently. I am informed that regional magistrates' posts which fell vacant several months ago remain unfilled despite interviews having been carried out a long time ago.
"There are obviously unjustified bureaucratic bottlenecks somewhere in the Public Service Commission. These bottlenecks and delays are not in the best interest of justice as failure to fill up these posts results in litigants being deprived of their access to justice," he said.
Justice Cheda added that the PSC should be sensitive to people's plight adding that his concern "is the vulnerable groups such as children and women who are victims of sexually related offences, whose cases remain uncompleted due to the shortage of regional magistrates".
He called on the PSC to re-visit the issue of appointment of regional magistrates without further delay.
The Bulawayo regional magistrates' courts are operating with a substantive magistrate who is assisted by an acting magistrate. As a result the courts are faced with a huge workload.
Justice Cheda commended magistrates, prosecutors and their supporting staff for continuing to work very hard, under very difficult economic circumstances which resulted in them resorting to industrial action
He described the two-month strike as "a dark episode in the history of the judiciary". He added that as a result, many accused persons and litigants were temporarily deprived of justice.
Justice Cheda expressed hope that now that the grievances of the prosecutors and magistrates had been adequately attended to and they had returned to work, they would direct all their efforts to clearing the backlog of cases.
He praised magistrates and prosecutors who remained behind while others left for greener pastures for acquitting themselves well.
"In light of this development, it is essential that those who have chosen to remain should be retained in order to avoid a further exodus. The powers that be must address the issue of the shortage of regional magistrates urgently," he said.
The occasion was graced by the Minister of Industry and International Trade, Cde Obert Mpofu, who is the Member of Parliament for Bubi-Umguza, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Cde John Landa Nkomo, the Resident Minister of the Metropolitan Province of Bulawayo, Cde Cain Matema, and the Member of the House of Assembly for Mangwe, Mr Edward Mukosi.
Also in attendance were service chiefs, retired judges of the High Court, Justice Siwanda Kennedy, Mbuso Sibanda, businesspeople from the city and legal practitioners.
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