The Scourge of the C-Word
"Mapurisa. Mapurisa. Mapurisa." This was the opening salvo by the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, President Robert Mugabe at the just-ended ZANU-PF People's Conference in Gweru, as he decried the plague that now seems so cancerous, so endemic, so entrenched in the Zimbabwean policing veins that getting rid of it is just akin to killing the foundations of the police force itself. And the president gave a practical example of the alleged misdeeds of police officers, especially on the road. “ Kumisa vanhu mumigwagwa. Mota yako haina mabreaks haungaende mberi. Kana uchida, bhadhara US$200 woenda ,” he said. The president is also not happy with the moral decadence that has afflicted other government departments, and he mentioned the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority as another body that is failing the nation when it comes to corruption. Such is the nature of our society today that virtually every office one appr...