Pretoria - The South African Policing Union has lashed out at the provincial police for ordering the 2023 cohort of trainees to transport themselves to the Tshwane Training Academy.
Gauteng secretary of union Mogale Mmutle said they were shocked and dismayed to learn that the HR of the country's law enforcement ordered the 2023 trainees intake to transport themselves to the training college.
Mmutle said the instruction for the trainees to find their own way to the training college was both unprocedural and unethical.
‘’We can confirm that all other trainees intake from different provinces were transported to their various police training academies, and what is so special with Gauteng that the trainees have to be ordered to transport themselves?’’
‘’The management knew from a long time that the trainees will be going to the college and necessary transport arrangements should have been done. Yet, they did not arrange transport. Instead, they are arrogant, stating that trainees should be grateful they got employment.’’
The provincial secretary said according to normal practice and procedure, the trainees must be transported and escorted by an identified escort officer solely for safety and to ensure that everyone has reported at the academies.
In the case of the Gauteng province, Mmutle said over a thousand trainees were recruited, many of whom were unemployed with no source of income to transport themselves.
Mmutle said, if anything, the inconsistent approach by the police management to transport others and not cater for others raised a serious concern for the union and workers.
‘’The question is, what will happen to those who could not raise transport money to transport themselves to the college? This strategy by the Gauteng police management to disadvantage the poor and unemployed, given the current economic status and the high rate of unemployment in the country, is uncalled for and surely will disadvantage those who cannot afford transport fees whilst carrying luggage.
‘’We demand that all the trainees that have used their own money for transportation to be reimbursed and those for whatever reason could not make it due to financial constraints to be assisted immediately so they are not disadvantaged.’’
The SAPS had not given details of this arrangement by time of publishing.
Pretoria News