SAPS reservists demand permanent jobs
The reservists claim they perform the same duties as permanent officers without the benefits.
Dozens of South African Police Service (SAPS) reservists took to the CBD streets on March 7 demanding permanent placements within the force.
The marchers gathered at Princess Park and marched to the SAPS Head Office on Thabo Sehume and Paul Kruger streets to hand over a memorandum of demands.
The reservists are demanding absorption into the Police Act and better treatment.
Police reservists currently operate under the Public Service Act of 1994 as volunteers where they claim to be treated vastly differently than permanent members of the police force.
“We want the SAPS to think of us as people that are living in South Africa, just like them. We wear a blue uniform and after that, there’s nothing we receive. We don’t have medical aid, we don’t get stipends and we want the SAPS to absorb us in all nine provinces,” said reservist, Hellen Ncola.
Ncola has been a reservist for the past 26 years and says that the reservists are tired of not being recognised for the service they provide to the country that they protect.
She added that they wait for a call-up in December where they receive R3 078 for the whole year, yet reservists are required to work, have their uniforms neat and book the firearms.
“We do everything that the permants do yet we are not recognised. There’s also an IRP5 that we receive every year which is registered by SARS but those IRPs say we earn R12 000 a month, we have no idea where this money went.
“Elections are coming but why vote when we can’t raise our children or put food on the table? Our kids end up becoming homeless and drug addicts,” Ncola continued.
Reservists say when they suffer injuries and death, they aren’t compensated.
Ncola was involved in a car accident while on duty in 2018 and said she hasn’t been compensated for it.
Others say that should they go on maternity leave or be sick for an extended period, they can be removed from their position.
Another reservist, data-capturer Khotso Mphela, said that not being absorbed by the Police Act leaves Public Service Act members vulnerable to criminal perpetrators.
Mphela wants the SAPS to respect the resolution of the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council (SSSBC) agreement 2 of 2011 which requires all Public Service Act members to be incorporated into the Police Act.
He said this never happened since its implementation.
“When perpetrators attack a police station, the first person they find inside is a Public Service Act member, who does not have a bulletproof vest or firearm. We aren’t protected, even when we die or do duty we get nothing while Police Act members can get up to R250 to R300 000. We get no memorial services, station commanders don’t attend, nothing,” Mphela.
On March 3, the reservists handed over a memorandum to police minister Bheki Cele. They claimed he did not respond to it yet.
In this memorandum, the reservists gave the police 14 days to respond.
They threatened constant gatherings from April 1 for five days at the Union Buildings demanding an audience with the President if their demands were not met.
Major-General Leny Govender, the acting divisional head of Human Resources Management received the memorandum on behalf of SAPS as the police minister, national commissioner and deputy national commissioner were at a presidential imbizo at the time.
“This matter is currently on the agenda at the SSSBC and matters of this nature are consulted and negotiated at the SSSBC. So as we speak, I can assure you that this matter is receiving attention,” Govender added.
Govender acknowledged that the matter has been ongoing since 2011 but assured the marchers that it was being attended to.
The demands in the memorandum include:
– Reimplementation of “danger allowances” of R400 which was implemented during March and April 2020 when the country was on Level 5 Covid restrictions.
– Community service centres to operate 24/7
– To receive the same benefits as permanent employees.
– No advertising of posts internally and externally until the Public Service Act members are absorbed into the Police Act, among many others.
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