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ZRP responds to Magaya allegations

18 Jul, 2019 - 19:07 0 Views
ZRP responds to Magaya allegations

The Sunday Mail

Garikai Mazara
Online News Editor

The Zimbabwe Republic Police has responded to allegations that they are protecting Prophet Walter Magaya, who is facing a litany of sexual allegations.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi (Senior Staff Officer for Press,
Public and International Relations) said the police is committed to bringing culprits to justice provided they receive consistent and reliable evidence.

“In the issue of Charity Dlodlo and Sarah Maruta, we have checked with the named stations and there are no records to show that any such charges were brought before the police.
“And what has been disturbing with these accusations, is that when the police were ready to pounce, the victims would turn around and say they never made such allegations. This makes the work of the police difficult, especially that such allegations involve adults. It would have been a different case were minors involved.
“For the justice delivery system to work, we need consistent and reliable witnesses, who will not turn around and say
otherwise,” said the police spokesperson.

He said besides the risk of false allegations being made, there is also the risk of police officers who might try to obstruct the delivery of justice, officers whom he warned will be dealt with, if they are proved to have worked against the interests of justice.

Dlodlo claims she was molested by Magaya at his Prospect, Waterfalls, offices and duly made a report at Waterfalls police station. She said the several dockets that were opened at the station disappeared and she even ended up opening the cases at Harare Central Police Station, and no action was ever taken.

Instead, she allegedly received death threats from one of Magaya’s bodyguards, whom she took to court and lost the case because she did not have evidence of the intimidation that she received.

On the other hand, Maruta claims that she reported her rape case at Harare Central’s Law and Order section and the three officers who investigated her case ended up persuading her to settle out of court with the prophet.

However, when The Sunday Mail ran the story of the alleged sexual impropriety on the two, on July 7, Maruta recorded a video which she released on social media, denying that she had made the allegations against Magaya.
Her denial was in spite of the fact that she had earlier been recorded by The Sunday Mail making the rape allegations, of which the full video is available online.

For her part, Dlodlo also had another live interview on Facebook on July 10, in which she repeated the same sexual allegations against Magaya. Two days later, on July 12, she was apologising to the prophet, for “soiling your name”.
When asked if the police should wait for charges to be laid and not action on allegations as raised by Dlodlo and Maruta, Asst Comm Nyathi said: “We have noted that it is not only Dlodlo and Maruta who have made u-turns with their allegations, which only makes it difficult for the police to investigate as there will be no witness.

“It looks like there is a pattern so we urge the media to work together with the police and get to the bottom of such
allegations as there might be something happening in the background that is inducing the women to turn against their earlier confessions.”

Meanwhile, Women Coalition in Zimbabwe, will Friday morning hold a Press briefing calling for an inquiry into the several sexual abuse allegations that have been levelled against Magaya. The briefing will be held at their Belgravia offices in Harare.

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