Within the multi-million-dollar civil servants complex in Beitbridge, at least eight police officers, including a Superintendent, currently reside in darkness due to their employer’s failure to pay electricity connection fees for their allocated pool houses.
It is alleged that some officers at the head office want the affected officers to pay some bribes to have the US$450 connection fees for each housing unit disbursed to the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC).
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi told NewsDay that the situation was not confined to the police housing units alone but the entire complex. He said:
It is not affecting ZRP houses alone but it’s affecting all departments.
The situation is being looked into by the government and will be normalised soon.
However, according to NewsDay sources, all other departments allocated houses within the gated modern complex—constructed as part of Beitbridge’s redevelopment project, including the border post upgrade—now have electricity.
This improvement came after their respective departments settled the outstanding connection fees. Said the source:
It is only the police who have not paid for the connection since we were removed from the dromedary bulk to individual unit meters. Their houses are dark and without electricity.
The complex is located at the foot of Maware Hills, otherwise known as Woman’s Breast Hills.
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