A BEATRICE family was last month reportedly harassed by traffic police after their ten-year-old daughter stumbled upon the cops’ loot stashed away in a rubbish pit and vanished with it.
REPORT BY JOHN NYASHANU/TAPIWA ZIVIRA
The cops were, on December 24, manning a roadblock along the Harare-Masvingo road near Gilstone Farm, some 40 km outside Harare.
The 10-year-old Nodia discovered the $2 000 loot hidden inside the pit while she was scavenging for “valuables” near the site of the roadblock.
The wads of banknotes were in a plastic bag that contained wild fruit (matufu) and several papers that served as a disguise.
The sight of the wads of notes was enough to raise the superstition streak in the girl’s mother.
In an interview with NewsDay at their homestead Tendai Nkonde, Nodia’s mother said: “When I saw the wads of Rand and US dollar notes in the plastic bag, I thought they must have been left by a goblin so I told my daughter we would first go to see an Apostolic prophet to ‘vet’ and cleanse the money before we could use it.”
Watch the video below:
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Little did she know at that time that the money would spell trouble with the cops.
According to the girl’s father, Jamos Gozho, the discovery of the hidden money by their daughter, on December 24 triggered their ordeal at the hands of the cops when they came to look for the vanished loot.
Children around the farming area, according to Gozho, have the tendency to rummage in and around the rubbish pits along the highway in search of “valuables”.
“After establishing that the plastic bag contained so much money, our daughter brought it home and showed her mother who took it, but neither of them informed me. My wife secured the money in her handbag in which was her own cash, about $132 which I had given her for safekeeping,” Gozho said.
The excited young girl had, however, confided to her friends about her find.
Upon realising that their money had gone, the police officers reportedly started investigating and, eventually, after interrogating farm labourers at the compound, established that Nodia had picked it up.
They tracked her down to her parents’ residence at the farm compound.
Before the girl’s mother could make out whether the money was from heaven or from a goblin, the cops, in a mean mood, were at her door looking for their loot.
“I was shocked because as soon as I arrived home, police officers in a BMW came to our compound and started harassing and assaulting anyone they met, alleging that someone had stolen their money and some ‘government papers’, ” she said.
Gozho concurred: “We saw a police highway patrol vehicle arriving at our house and the officers demanded that we hand them back the money.
“Since I had not been told anything about it, I professed ignorance over the claims that my daughter had picked up such kind of money, but then so did my wife and daughter. This infuriated the police officers and they handcuffed us before ordering us into their vehicle. All this time they were threatening us with unspecified action,” Gozho said.
An eyewitness, a neighbour of the Gozhos who only identified himself as Patson, confirmed the “arrest”: “A couple of police officers came to the Gozho homestead, and I could hear them shouting and accusing them of stealing ‘government money’ and Jamos’ wife was handcuffed and they were both taken away.”
Gozho said the family was taken to a nearby school, Christ College, where they were interrogated until his wife, admitted that she was in possession of the money.
“Shaken as she was, she handed them all the money, including the $132 that belonged to us. The police gave her $10 as a token of appreciation before leaving,” he said.
But the villagers, though in a state of shock, were convinced that there was something fishy about the cops’ behavior.
“We all smelt a rat when we saw a traffic police vehicle driving around in the compound. Yes, police officers often come here, but not from the traffic section,” said one farm labourer who refused to be identified.
A female resident at the farm who also requested not to be named weighed in saying: “What angers us is the fact that the police officers were so shameless to track down money which we suspect they received from motorists as bribe. Where is their professionalism and good standing in society?”
The disappearance of the traffic cops with the money was not the end of the drama as two days later, the Member in Charge of Beatrice Police Station, who had apparently got wind of the incident, took it upon himself to investigate the matter.
“Two days later the Member in Charge of Beatrice Police Station whom I identified as Dube came over in the company of another police officer, driving a Defender vehicle,” Gozho said.
“They asked us to accompany them to the police station where a statement was recorded from us on December 26. After that we heard nothing from them until yesterday (Sunday) when two officers driving a Toyota Corolla visited us saying they would bring back our money (the $132) today (yesterday) but up until now, they have not done so.”
Traffic police officers are not allowed to carry personal cash while on duty and are subjected to random spot checks by their superiors and the Anti-Corruption Commission in a bid to curb cases of bribery.
Contacted for comment yesterday police national spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said she was not aware of the case and promised to investigate.
