By A Correspondent- The ministry of Home Affairs has revealed that a serious shortage of vehicles is forcing police officers to accept transport to their stations from suspects they would have arrested.

Deputy Home Affairs minister Ruth Mavhungu-Maboyi said the state of affairs in the police force was disturbing with the security organ incapacitated to attend to some crime scenes.

It is true that the police officers are travelling distances to arrest a criminal who owns a car whilst they are travelling on foot which then becomes a very difficult situation.  When they arrive at the scene, they are the ones who are now given a lift by the perpetrator,” Mavhungu-Maboyi said in the Senate’s latest sitting.

“However, we have put a budget aside, especially on the supplementary budget. The minister of Finance is going to look into our plight in order that we may increase the fleet of vehicles at hand.  At the moment, we have cars but they are very few and some are not working.

“The cars are not only going to be used to go and attend criminals with minor offences but also other major crimes like murder.”

The Parliamentary Portfolio committee on defence, home affairs and security services warned a few months ago that the country’s police service could collapse owing to underfunding.

They issued the warning in a report presented in Parliament  following their inquiry into the state of infrastructure and service delivery by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) between October and November last year.

The lawmakers said ZRP requires about 7 000 vehicles to function efficiently but it currently has 2 167 and only 807 of those were on the road.

Asked for comment, Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said to The Standard:

“The official position as far as I am concerned the government is in the process of acquiring vehicles for the police.”