The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) has called on the National Police Commissioner, Sehlahle Masemola, to take a more active role in ensuring that young police trainees are provided with adequate living conditions.
POPCRU says it plans to picket at the headquarters of the South African Police Service in Pretoria this week over what it says are inhumane conditions that police trainees are being subjected to. During this demonstration set for Wednesday, 22 June, POPCRU is expected to hand over a memorandum of demands to the Police Commissioner.
POPCRU’s spokesperson Richard Mamabolo says, “There need to be investigations into why there have been discrepancies around these learners. We want the head of the HR to step down.”
It is said that over 545 trainees have not received their stipends over the past 2 months.
— POPCRU (@POPCRU1989) June 8, 2022
The picketing which will be taking place in Pretoria are carrying on from other demonstrations undertaken by the union at the Groenpunt and Sasolburg Correctional Centres as well as at the Malmesbury Correctional Centre in the Western Cape.
Grievances conveyed at previous protests included illegal shift patterns, inadequate security at various correctional centres, shortage of personnel, the absence of a policy on professional promotion as well as the introduction of a policy requiring police and prison employees to declare if they are married or relationships with foreign nationals.
Mamabolo adds that the union would like for the police commissioner to personally visit all the areas where members have expressed dissatisfaction to ensure that all these challenges are immediately addressed.
In a statement to the media, the union has said that these demonstrations are part of a build-up towards the POPCRU National Day of Action as determined at their recent provincial congresses across the country.
