Nhau News Online News that is accurate, reliable, trustworthy!!
Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga has promoted 5 629 non-commissioned (NCOs) junior police officers with immediate effect, Nhau has learnt.
This is contained in a radio signal seen by Nhau stating that the promotions were with effect from yesterday, Monday November 30.
According to the signal, 1 511 Sergeants were elevated to the rank of Assistant Inspector, another 173 Sergeants promoted to the rank of Sergeant Major and 3 945 Constables bumped up to the rank of Sergeant.
Conferment of ranks will be done by officers commanding provinces on Tuesday 8 December at 10am.
Last week President Mnangagwa, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, promoted 54 Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) officers to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel effective November 10.
The army promotions were described as “a gimmick meant to appease Mnangagwa’s bootlickers” by MDC Alliance vice-president Tendai Biti.
Opposition circles say that Mnangagwa is also doing this in order to overcome disgruntlements in the uniformed forces over poor salaries. Currently, the forces are bitter over the way Government paid them their 13th cheque.
Sources told Nhau that when their salaries were entered, they thought these included the newly awarded 40 percent increase and that their bonuses would be injected later, but alas when their pay slips came, the bonus was included.
“We are still confused over how they paid us this month. I actually spent my November salary quite hopeful that our bonus would be injected but I was surprised to see it already included on my pay slip when I finally collected it,” said a police officer who cannot be named.
Meanwhile, the police communication on promotions emphasises that only the top three of each rank will participate in the ceremonies as a measure of adhering to Covid-19 regulations that restrict gatherings.
“Conferment of badges of rank shall be conducted by respective officers commanding provinces (for all provinces/CID/Support Unit) and Chief Staff Officer (CSO) in respect of Police General Headquarters (PGHQ) on Tuesday 8 December at 10am,” read the signal.
“Due to Covid-19 pandemic, only the top three per each rank per district shall attend the conferment parade taking cognisance of female representation on a ratio of one female to two males. The rest of other promoted members shall remain at their stations.”
The last time the exercise was done in 2018, members slammed their bosses for allegedly abandoning the normal examination processes to elevate their favourite individuals without any explanation.
Police officers are usually subjected to annual promotional examinations meant to identify officers who merit elevation to higher ranks.
However, Section 9 of the Police Act empowers Comm-Gen Matanga to handpick officers for promotion using other considerations. Nhau/Indaba
