Police set record straight about the chicken feed incident
Last week Corridor Gazette published an article about a police officer who allegedly used an official vehicle to purchase chicken feed from a local store.
MALALANE – Last week Corridor Gazette published an article about a police officer who allegedly used an official vehicle to purchase chicken feed from a local store.
This week the Malalane Police Station set the record straight that the whole exercise which was captured on camera and sent to the paper by a reader, was legal and official.
The chicken feed was part of a logistical-support exercise for a rural-safety campaign that was spearheaded by four organisations, including the Department of Home affairs, Nkomazi Local Municipality (NLM), Masisukumeni and the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison.
The campaign was launched on Sunday October 26 on a farm compound called Makukurugwini,
situated five kilometres from town.
“Thus the supply of chicken feed was part of the campaign and the organisations’ corporate social responsibility to help the needy and to eradicate poverty through assistance in feeding poultry, which will in turn sustain the availability of food in the future. This is a social crime-prevention initiative which aims to eradicate poverty as it is a generator of illegal activities in the area,” explained police spokesman, Sgt Bheki Nkosi.
According to Nkosi, an investigation was launched on Friday October 31 by the acting station commander Lt Col Nelson Sibiya, upon reading for the article in the October 30 edition of Corridor Gazette.
“Findings from the police vehicle-tracking system showed that on October 21, the state vehicle with registration number BRJ 535 B was at Obaro Hardware and the official was purchasing chicken feed as part of logistical support for the campaign. Further investigations revealed that Obaro Malalane does not sell chicken,” he added.
Sibiya pleaded with members of the public to report any suspicious activity happening around the policing precinct directly to his office for them to be correctly investigated.
“Fruitless or unaccounted-for expenditures as opposed by Public Management Finance Act and the treasury regulation are not welcome at Malalane Police Station,” said Sibiya.
Sibya. “We want to put it on record that communication was by the local newspaper on October 24 and 28, to Nkosi for other stories not the one in question. And such communication was before the nine-day period elapsed since the story’s came to light on October 21 and the publication on the October 30. This brings us to the conclusion of saying that we were not given an opportunity to respond to an incident that was misunderstood and misinterpreted by a person who reported the matter anonymously.”
