Cape Town - The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) in the province is demanding answers from the police management to an array of grievances it submitted late last year.
Members are expected to picket at the provincial police offices today to raise outstanding issues they are disputing with their employer.
These issues include the deployment of commissioned officers as duty officers, usage of the Labour Relations office to charge shop stewards, recharging of members on finalised cases, the removal of the deputy provincial commissioner, and the transferring of members without consultation.
Popcru provincial secretary Pat Raolane said that the union resolved to picket following the police management’s lack of response after the members staged a picket at the same premises last year raising their grievances.
Raloane said that one of the main issues the union raised was the promotion of Public Service Association members and the restructuring of the SAPS.
“Most of our locations are under attack. When our members are gathered they are being shot at and we don’t know what is the logic around that.
“In the Western Cape, only one person has been arrested but when you listen to eyewitnesses they will tell you that it was five to six people that were shooting at random, but only one person gets arrested, and there’s a lull. Our people deserve better, they deserve good policing,’ he said.
Raloane said the union wanted the police management to go back to the drawing board, prioritising the issue of restructuring. He said the union believes this will ease the burden of their members in relation to patrols or visible policing.
“The model will create street committees and reactivate Community Policing Forums and by and large create a sphere whereby police officers at a district level together with sector commander can communicate with communities.
“For as long as these things are not happening the management in the province must leave and give us management that understands that the plight of our people comes first,” he said.
Police spokesperson Andre Traut said provincial police were aware of today’s protest, and the union’s memorandum will be accepted by the management, should it be presented.
Traut said that the police would not be discussing the issues raised by the Popcru on an open platform and that it would engage with the union directly regarding their concerns.