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I’LL FIRE COP WHO STOLE STOKVEL E100 000 - NATCOM

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MBABANE – “I’ll fire the cop who stole the E100 000.” The National Commissioner of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS), William Dlamini, has been infuriated by the police officer who allegedly left a cash deposit safe box ‘clean’ after taking E100 000 brought to the Mbabane Police Station for safekeeping.


The national commissioner was responding to this publication’s article wherein it was reported that money brought to the aforementioned cop shop disappeared last Wednesday.
The money was brought to the station by a member of a stokvel, who sought its safekeeping, as police usually call upon members of stokvels to deposit large sums of cash with them for safekeeping during this time of the year.
According to definition.net, stokvels are invitation only clubs of many people serving as rotating credit unions or savings schemes. Members contribute fixed sums of money to a central fund on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis.
Normally, at the end of the year, the members of the stokvels share their dividends.


The irate national commissioner confirmed that the money was brought to the Mbabane Police Station for safekeeping but ended up missing. This, he said, happened a week after he had visited the police station to request officers to shield the reputation of their institution from any negative publicity and also improve their service delivery.


“I’m so shocked by the people we have now as police officers. In fact, our policy does not permit the manner in which the transaction (between the stokvel member and the police officer) happened,” Dlamini said.
The leader of the police service in the country said rules within the police service required that such an amount should be recorded and reported to the station commander before it was kept by the police.


Reported


Dlamini wondered why this amount was not reported. It has been gathered by this publication from impeccable sources that the stokvel member and the officer who received the money had a gentlemen’s agreement; such that the amount was kept at the police station –without being recorded and or following any of the rules.


Dlamini said: “Given these developments, we opened a docket on a criminal case where we are investigating who stole the money and we shall have a breakthrough soon.”
Following the preliminary investigations, Dlamini exonerated the recipient of the money from being the one behind its disappearance.


Instead, he said: “I want the culprit behind this thieving act to be arrested and fired from the police service. He brought shame to the name of the good police officers who do their work diligently.”
This, he said, referring to officers who were caught on the wrong side of the law.
“Such people are not police officers but criminals who have no place in the police service.”


He implored supervisors within the police service to take charge of their duties. This, the national commissioner said, was in ensuring discipline within the law enforcing agency and also proper supervision.
Supervision, according to Dlamini, should start in the police residential camps such that supervisors get to know that all cops were within the premises before bedtime.
He said the frequent reports of police officers partaking in illicit dealings made them wonder if the police service was now a breeding ground for criminals.


Meanwhile, the disappearance of money at apolice station is not unusual as at the Pigg’s Peak Police Station, during a heist, six men took with them E6.2 million. The money was to be disbursed to the elderly for their grants and also, a fraction of it belonged to a stokvel.


Worth noting is that the Mbabane Police Station is littered with closed circuit television (CCTV) camera which is a system that sends television signals to a number of screens and is used as protection against thieves.
At the police station, the CCTV cameras are at strategic positions to capture anything in close proximity of it; however, it is not known whether there were cameras where the money was kept.


The money was saved by members of a stokvel for the past 11 months and was to be collected by the member who had given it to the police for safekeeping last Wednesday. The disappearance of the money is said to have caused panic and commotion between the members of the stokvel and the law enforcer. This was said to be more frustrating to the police because they were preaching the gospel of caution to stokvel members and the public such that they were even encouraging them to take large sums of money to police stations for safekeeping. The disappearance of the money was said to be escalating the number of incidents that have led to the police having negative publicity and therefore, discarding any trust the public might have in the police.


Vigour


Following the theft of the money, some of the junior police officers implored their superiors to apply the same vigour depicted when junior cops were in the wrong when investigating other serious cases. Meanwhile, following the theft of the money, a member of a stokvel (not the one related to the matter) said banks were ideal for safety depositing. The member said ensuring that all their money was deposited in the bank to guard against robberies and temptations of theft was a better option.









  


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