Taking COSATU Today Forward, 7 May 2024
Norman Mampane
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Taking COSATU Today Forward
‘Whoever sides with the revolutionary people in deed as well as in word is a revolutionary in the full sense’-Maoo
Our side of the story
7 May 2024
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- SADTU Statement on the Glenvista Secondary School Classroom Fight
- South Africa
- POPCRU on the SAPS’s brain-drain reaching critical levels
- POPCRU welcomes the arrest of two suspected cop killers
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Union forced out of May Day celebrations in Zimbabwe
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
SADTU Statement on the Glenvista Secondary School Classrooom Fight
06 May 2024
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) demands justice and fairness in dealing with the fight between learners and a teacher at Glenvista High School.
Even though the video of the fight is attracting comments from the public, SADTU expects that every person involved should be treated fairly and let the innocent until proven guilty rule prevail because we do not know the context.
Schools are meant to be safe spaces, but this incident proves otherwise. Sadly, such incidents are becoming a common occurrence.
We understand the Gauteng Department of Education today brought to the school psychosocial services to counsel the learners and not the teachers. The Department must provide psychosocial counselling to all the teachers because they have been affected by the attack on their colleague. Just like the learners, teachers have rights and deserve fair treatment from the employer, the Gauteng Department of Education. The teacher did not report for duty today and there is no indication that the Department followed-up on his condition.
It is unfortunate that the law and the South African Council for Educators (SACE) have prescribed sanctions for teachers who engage in physical confrontation with the learners, but these do not exist for the learners.
Further, we call on all stakeholders in education to do their part in ensuring that schools are safe as part of SADTU’s “I am A School Fan” campaign. Learners should be in class, prepared and disciplined; parents should ensure they always instil discipline and values on their children, and teachers should be punctual, prepared and teach.
We urge the Department of Education to speed up the investigation into this matter. While we await the investigation processes, we urge the department to create a conducive environment for the teachers to work and apply the rules for dealing with unruly and aggressive behaviour.
We condemn attacks on teachers because they will deter people from choosing teaching as a career and therefore deny the country of enthusiastic student teachers.
ISSUED BY: SADTU Secretariat
POPCRU on the SAPS’s brain-drain reaching critical levels
Richard Mamabolo, POPCRU Media & Communication Officer, 07 May 2024
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) is concerned that highly skilled and specialised members of the Special Task Force and National Intervention Unit divisions are exiting these units at an alarming rate, leaving the country’s borders vulnerable and posing a significant risk to safety and security.
POPCRU President Thulani Ngwenya has noted that the SAPS skills drain is now reaching critical levels as members retire or leave the service for better paying positions in the private sector.
“This represents a serious threat to our national security, as our most skilled officers in are leaving faster than we can train replacements. Law enforcement is already understaffed and underequipped, and this exodus from specialised divisions means that we cannot properly deal with serious crimes that fall beyond the scope of classic policing,” he says.
“While private security firms are luring away our highly trained personnel with lucrative offers, our country has been left vulnerable to security breaches. Additionally, the migration of some of our most experienced and valuable officers to the private sector is not only weakening our law enforcement capabilities, but also undermining the principle of state responsibility for protecting all citizens.”
Growing risks
Active police numbers across the SAPS have been unsatisfactory for years. For example, the total number of officers fell by 17,470 in the decade between 2012 and 2022, as revealed by the Annual Performance Plan for the 2023/2024 period. Meanwhile, the country’s population grew by more than eight million people during that time.
Despite the recent addition of new police recruits, Ngwenya notes that years of neglect means that there will be a gap in terms of suitably experienced personnel to replace those retiring. This will disproportionately impact specialised units, which have substantially higher appointment requirements.
“Even if the SAPS trains and hires the 10,000 new recruits pledged by government this year, this will have little immediate impact on higher-level crimes. Dealing with these crimes requires the abilities of far more experienced officers, who take years to train and upskill to reach their positions.”
Moreover, the skilled and highly trained Special Task Force members are jumping ship for better salaries in private security companies, where they are employed as bodyguards for individuals such as taxi bosses and the wealthy, he explains.
“This is very dangerous, as private security should not outnumber police in any country. It is not correct that private security’s numbers are stronger than the state’s, because private security’s concern is for the rich people who can pay for their services, not for the poor or for protecting our communities.
“The responsibility for protecting the country cannot be privatised – it must remain in the hands of the state in accordance with our Constitution.”
Addressing the challenges
POPCRU has solutions to these challenges but requires political and administrative will from government to implement its proposals.
For example, due to the limitations in the SAPS’ current promotion structures, many members feel that there is little recognition for performance, or room in the organisation for their career growth. By comparison, private security work often offers better hours, working environments, and pay.
POPCRU has therefore advocated for changes to the SAPS’ organisational and promotion model to allow for better upward mobility, especially for those seeking to join the Special Task Force and National Intervention Unit ranks. These include setting stronger and clearer guidelines for promotions to senior positions based on skill and experience.
Next, government can offer highly trained and experienced special forces officers better financial incentives that correspond to the work they do and the risks they face, such as increasing their danger allowance from R6,000 to R20,000 per month.
Considering the two-year length and difficulty of the training programme, coupled with a considerably low pass rate, POPCRU further advocates for successful Special Task Force candidates to receive the rank of colonel once finished. This will provide an additional incentive for more officers to join the programme.
Finally, training costs for each of these highly skilled officers amount to over a million rand over the two-year period. To ensure that this investment does not go to waste, POPCRU recommends contracting them to serve the state for a period of 10 years following their training.
“Only once their service period is complete should they be allowed to leave the department for the private sector, taking their experience with them. This would ensure that the SAPS recoups its investment and keeps its most valuable officers for longer,” says Ngwenya.
“This, in turn, will allow law enforcement to better address criminal activity, and allow enough time for train officers to take their place, rather than being given a few months.”
POPCRU is now calling on the SAPS to sit down with the relevant policy makers and other stakeholders to determine which mechanisms would best be suited to resolve this issue. The discussions should be held in line with the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council (SSSBC) agreement 2 of 2009 which speaks to the rules of engagement as it prescribes steps to be taken after engagements among respective principals.
Issued by POPCRU
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POPCRU welcomes the arrest of two suspected cop killers
Richard Mamabolo, POPCRU Media & Communication Officer, 04 May 2024
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) welcomes the breakthrough made in the murder of a Durban cop, Constable Jairus Johua Govender who was shot and killed on the N2 near Scottburgh in August 2023.
This breakthrough comes after the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation confirmed that two people have been arrested and charged with Govender’s murder, who was stationed at the Port Shepstone Public Order Policing.
This brazen attack is but one amongst many that have taken place in the past year, resulting in the loss of 92 law enforcement officers, with many others having suffered from career-threatening injuries and being left disabled.
Moreover, this randomness and apparent targeting of police officers, whether on or off duty, has inevitably increased members’ feelings of unsafety and insecurity. It is a clear sign that these officers are being singled out as targets for attacks for their firearms which are later utilised to perpetuate further criminal activities.
Many members of the SAPS are justifiably angered by this trend wherein their colleagues continue to be killed and are specific targets of attack. They consider themselves to be forgotten and neglected victims; that the authorities and, in particular, their own organisation does not care about their safety and security and fail to do anything concrete about the situation. In their view, the overall perception is that the SAPS appears to be reluctant to do anything.
Our men and women in blue are daily tasked to ensure all our citizens are safe in their homes, work places, places of worship and entertainment. It should be prioritised that in-turn, they and their immediate families are also well looked after. There is an urgent need to review and increase on service allowances for SAPS Act members, and an introduction of the danger allowance for the Public Service Act employees and SAPS Act members.
While we welcome the increased danger allowance from R400 to R700, we have submitted a position paper at the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council (SSSBC), therein demanding the allowance to be increased to R1500, which takes into consideration that according the SSSBC Agreement 4 of 2001, the initial allowance was supposed to have been increased yearly with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), including the cost of living adjustments and the frequency of the dangers these officers find themselves.
Matters of living conditions, family situations, career stagnation and lack of promotion of police officers should be comprehensively addressed as an officer with a healthy morale will perform his/her duties well.
While the onus lies on the police to prevent, combat and investigate crime, communities have a role to play in flushing out crime, as the criminals committing these heinous acts come from the communities we serve, so the improvement of community and police relations is long overdue if we are to build better communities.
POPCRU has been consistent in demanding that the killing of police officers must be declared a crime against the state and therefore categorised as treason, and the killing of police officers whether on or off-duty must be condemned as the officers are targeted for largely protecting the community for marauding, heartless criminals.
We have as a union proposed to the Minister and Commissioner, through our Policing Indaba last year October that there should be legislative amendments aimed at ensuring the killing of officers is considered treasonous as it is a clear attack on the authority of the state.
This therefore means there should be much harsher sentences, and bail should at all times be denied.
During the beginning of March 2024, the Department of Justice held a panel discussion on the reviewal of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977, in possibly aligning it with our post-1994 realities, and we believe this is among the correct and promising steps that need to be taken in addressing the killing of officers and many other challenges faced, especially considering the rising crime levels our country finds itself.
Issued by POPCRU
International-Solidarity
Union forced out of May Day celebrations in Zimbabwe
3 May, 2024
Five trade unionists from the Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) were threatened and chased away at gun point by more than 20 thugs, while they were setting up for the Workers Day celebrations at a stadium at Bikita Minerals on 1 May.
According to ZDAMWU, an IndustriALL affiliate who organizes in the diamond and mining sectors, the union’s tent was destroyed. Further, one of the unionist’s mobile phones was forcibly taken from her after a brief abduction where she was dragged to a car by thugs who are known in the area. She underwent a humiliating body search, and her phone was smashed into pieces.
“It was a sad Workers Day for ZDAMWU. As a union we have been fighting harassment, long working hours, and corruption by some managers who ask for bribes for workers contracts to be renewed. Additionally, sexual harassment is rampant at Bikita Minerals,”
said Justice Chinhema, ZDAMWU general secretary who believes that the attack is meant to intimidate the union.
“Law enforcement agencies must investigate this intimidation and protect workers' rights that are in the country’s constitution and labour laws. Mineworkers in Zimbabwe have a right to freedom of association and assembly and should not carry their activities in fear,”
said Glen Mpufane IndustriALL director for mining.
Trade unions have raised concerns at the International Labour Conference on violations of International Labour Organization conventions in Zimbabwe especially Convention 87 on freedom
of association and the protection of the rights to organize, and Convention 98 on the right to organize and collective bargaining.
On environmental, social and governance (ESG), local communities have raised concerns and said that although the ESG guidelines exist on paper, Sinomine never applies them. For example, the villagers say their source of water for drinking, market gardening,
and livestock has been polluted by toxic chemicals as evidenced by the death of fish and aquatic life at Matezva Dam. Further, communities have lost fields and land to the mining company due to opening of new mining sites, road construction and the building
of power lines. Some of the displaced villagers say they never received compensation from Sinomine.
ZDAMWU, which has 672 members at the mine, made a report to the police and will write to the ministry of labour to protest how the union officials were treated at Bikita Minerals.
Bikita Minerals, which is owned by China’s Sinomine Resource Group, is the largest lithium mine in Zimbabwe which is Africa’s largest producer of lithium ore. Lithium is one of the critical minerals required for the transition to renewable energy sources. Lithium
is used in the manufacturing of rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, computers, and electric vehicles. Other minerals mined at Bikita Minerals include petalite which is used in ceramic and glass manufacturing.
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Norman Mampane (Shopsteward Editor)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street, Braamfontein, 2017
P.O.Box 1019, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct line: 010 219-1348