Army, police operations above board

News
Reference is made to The Standard (June 2 to 8 2019) edition’s story titled “Joint police, army operations to flush out illegal miners raises stink”. The story was written by Brenna Matendere.

Reference is made to The Standard (June 2 to 8 2019) edition’s story titled “Joint police, army operations to flush out illegal miners raises stink”. The story was written by Brenna Matendere.

In the article, the reporter alleges that soldiers and police officers are being bribed to collude with illegal miners and in the process turn a blind eye to the violence and illegal mining activities being perpetrated by various gangsters with connections to some politicians.

For the record, the allegations are not true as the army and police operations to flush out illegal mining activities are above board and focused on bringing sanity in the mining sector.

The uniformed security services will not be perturbed by these false allegations, which are obviously based on unverified information from people with sinister motives to stifle the operations.

It is sad to note that some non-governmental organisations and allies are now querying the operations, security and peaceful atmosphere prevailing in the mentioned mining areas.

As alluded to in the police comments given to Matendere, the security services will certainly not condone any acts of indiscipline or criminality by members and will thus take action immediately as is the case with Constable Nyashanu.

Let me take this opportunity to remind readers and the public at large that in executing their operations, the army and police have their constitutional mandate which guides them. They will, therefore, not be distracted or swayed to take sides in fighting the illegal menace, which is contributing to the challenges bedevilling the national economy.

We urge members of the public to continue co-operating with the uniformed services in bringing to book all criminal elements and in the promotion of law and order in the country.

Assistant Commissioner P Nyathi, Senior Staff Officer [Press, Public and International Relations]