SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s police commissioner Augustine Chihuri has been linked to controversial Johannesburg based businessman Phineas Manthata, after the pair was both named as passengers in an ‘illegal’ police convoy over the weekend.
South African police are investigating several Johannesburg metro police officers for the unauthorised use of an unmarked, blue light cavalcade, which was reportedly used to escort Chihuri to Beitbrigde.
The officers were detained on their return from the border post for allegedly travelling outside their jurisdiction in privately owned unmarked cars, which were seen travelling with “blue lights and sirens blazing.”
Manthata, dubbed the ‘blue light Prince’, was reportedly also in one of the vehicles, along with a “stash of cash” that was also discovered. It was not revealed why Chihuri was in South Africa or travelling with Manthata, but it is suspected the pair was doing a deal to outfit the Zimbabwe police service with new equipment.
Manthata’s company fits Johannesburg Metropolitan Police cars with blue lights, sirens, radios, armour and cameras, and he has previously been implicated in using this police connection to organise unauthorised ‘blue light convoys’.
In 2011, the self-styled ‘His Royal Highness Prince of the Royal Kingdom of Batlokwa’ said he had an arrangement with the metro police to be given an escort if he had foreign officials coming to South Africa for business.
He is also linked to multi-million rand corruption allegations and in 2010 he was investigated by Zambia’s anti-corruption commission over R140 million that was allegedly ‘overpaid’ to his company.
Joburg metro police chief Chris Ngcobo has said that he authorised the convoy ferrying Chihuri and Manthata over the weekend to travel in a convoy of unmarked cars, to protect Chihuri. He was quoted as saying: “There is nothing wrong with our guys escorting the Zimbabwean commissioner because we have a relationship. We always escort police commissioners from other countries when they come here. In fact we did just that two weeks ago with a commissioner from Zaire (DRC).”
Howard Dembovsky, the National Chairperson of the law enforcement watchdog group, the Justice Project South Africa, compared the scourge of ‘blue light convoys’ in South Africa to those of Robert Mugabe’s convoys, also called “wailers.”
“They have taken it upon themselves to act as they like and often endanger members of the public. South Africa has laws that govern the use of blue lights and so on, unfortunately it hasn’t been well defined and the blue light brigade has gained themselves a notorious reputation,” Dembovsky told SW Radio Africa.
He explained that there is no jurisdiction for the Johannesburg metro police to authorise these convoys.
“This is nothing more than a corrupt practice,” Dembovsky said.
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