Tanaka Chare
Gweru Urban District’s outstanding police officers smiled on stage as they scooped the Cop of the Month Awards with great joy and pride for their hard work.
Cops of the month awards recognise the outstanding good work performed by police officers in the discharge of their duties and to cement relations between police and the general public. It is a tool for promoting efficiency and effectiveness in policing.
The Gweru Urban Dispol C/Sup Dr. Marongedza was honored to be part of the event and witness the good work that is being done in the police.
“We have gathered here to remind the public of the promises we make in our charter. The police must provide effective and efficient services. The award recipients are a clear testimony of the goals set up in our charter. The district received 7,386 cases during the first half of the year, detected 5,158 cases, and reached 70% detection, which exceeded the required target.”
The awards recognised police officers who excelled in the first half of the year.
For January, Cop of the month went to Sergeant Shanje, who was a loam leader.
His recognition comes from being a team leader who defied being submerged into corruption and Bribery after arresting suspects of smuggling goods.
On 2 January 2025, Sergeant Shanje was tasked to take part in an operation code-named ‘No to Smuggling’. During duty the team leader ensured that three good arrests were made despite various efforts by smugglers to evade police as follows:
A Toyota Quantum registration number LJ18GH GP on the l6 January 2025, Lean Angels bus AFG 3408 on the 21 January 2025 and a Toyola Probox registration number AGF 7123 on 25 January 2025 all loaded with various smuggled goods and second hand goods.
The dedicated and professional police officer did not fall into the corrupt trap and took the accused persons, their vehicles, and their goods to Gweru Central police stations for further management.
In February 2025, a ruthless crime of passion offender, Collen Makamure, attacked and raped a young and innocent girl in the maize fields. The complainant, who was on her way to the Mkoba 1 shop, was attacked by this notorious thug and went into hibernation.
A dedicated and fearless police officer was tasked to investigate the case after a report was made.
A full docket was compiled and the accused was taken to Gweru magistrate court on a charge of Rape as defined in section 65 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9.23 and was remanded in custody.
On 29 May 2025, the accused appeared at Gweru Regional Court, where he was heavily sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labour, a move which will deter other offenders.
This committed and dedicated officer was Cst Kapita F of Mkoba Police. It only needs one to be a committed police officer and be duly conscious, although information comes from where or from whom.
On 1 March 2025, Cst Gumbo Grace of ZRP Nehanda received a tip-off from a United Kingdom number to the effect that there was an uncle who was sexually abusing her niece in the Mkoba area.
A case of aggravated indecent assault and rape was opened investigations commenced.
The accused person was hiding at number 424 Mkoba 17, and she did not hesitate to approach a dangerous criminal facing these serious offences. The accused tried to plead with the police officer to bribe her with money, but he was unfortunate to realize that she was not a corrupt officer.
She successfully escorted the accused person to Nehanda police station and later to the Gweru regional court. Currently, the accused person is languishing in prison after he was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment for Indecent assault and 18 years for rape, total effective 35 years after his trial.
In April 2025,Senga’s policing area was hard hit series of robbery cases whereby a group of accused persons were terrorising the residents, robbing them of their valuables, inclusive of laptops, motor vehicles, and electrical gadgets.
This prompted one of the intelligence gurus, Inspector Nyaumwe, G. of ZRP Mkoba, to partake in crime trend analysis and criminal intelligence gathering. An effective informer recruitment made it easy for this police officer to know the places of residence for the accused persons in Kadoma and where they were selling the stolen property. The arrest took place and recovered property worth US$18000 00.
The arrest managed to clear six outstanding cases of robbery, and this brought the total number of robbery cases.
Inspector Shumba D. of ZRP Monomutapa, in May 2025, received a case of the accused Joseph Namembo Phiri was seen selling suspicious solar panels. Upon seeing the police officer, the accused tried to escape by jumping the wall until the police managed to arrest him while hiding in a bathroom at a house in Old Ascort, Gweru. 18 unlawful entry and theft cases were cleared, leading to the recovery of property worth US$3,765 out of a total value of US$6,051, which was stolen,the accused was sent to court.
In June 2025, Nelson Holdings (Pvt) (Ltd) Company was visited by criminals on 21 June 2025 who unlawfully gained entry into the premises by forcing the locked door open.
They stole cash amounting to US$40,000. The report was received and attended by seasoned police officers who employed correct scene attendance procedures and techniques.
Felix Chikowo, who was an employee, was a suspect along with 2 suspects from Kadoma.
The total value recovered is US$11800, and the accused persons were sentenced to seven years in Prison with hard labor. The seasoned and dedicated officer was CST Muleya of ZRP Mkoba.
