The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Commissioner General Godwin Matanga has urged police officers to serve the country with renewed zeal and commitment as the organisation is working on rebranding its image.
The remarks were made in a speech read on his behalf by the Deputy Commissioner General (Human Resources) Elliot Mind Ngirandi during the opening of the rebranding and refresher training courses for 68 officers with the rank of Chief Inspector and Inspector drawn from Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and CID Provinces.
The police boss noted that the rebranding exercise was motivated by the recommendations made by the Kgalema Motlanthe led Commission of Inquiry into the August 1, 2018, election-related violence and killings.
He said the recommendations included equipping the police with the necessary skills and capacity for dealing with rioters as well as further training to attain professional standards and be non-partisan in the interest of national cohesion and the protection of all citizens.
“Resultantly, training and supervision of police officers shall be ongoing in order to ensure all strategies to rebrand and transform the organisation dovetail with the government’s national trajectory and above all, people’s expectations and needs,” he said.
Comm Matanga urged police officers to be mindful that the public were watching their every move.
“You must therefore embed yourselves in the people, engage with them, understand their daily challenges and social ills,” said Comm Matanga.
“Allow them to identify their concerns and clearly articulate the role of the police in the preservation of law and order, ongoing policing initiatives and mechanisms available to members of the public for registering complaints against police among other ways of improving policing in the country.”
The Commissioner General cited the importance of working with stakeholders from both the public and private sector for the subsistence of the rule of law in the country.
He encouraged the police to serve the country with renewed zeal and commitment despite the challenges.
“As command we are not unmindful of the various challenges militating against service delivery, particularly lack of modern tools of the trade. However, I wish to point out the government is working tirelessly to afford police the requisite financial and material resources to effectively discharge our policing mandate,” he said.
Commissioner Matanga defined the main task for the police as that to prevent crime from occurring and where it occurs, to ensure it does not take root through detection and bringing offenders to justice.
He said the course to be undertaken by the officers will include resource and crime management, corruption, customer care, public order management, cyber and intellectual crime and community policing retirement.
