The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) fully supports its affiliated union, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU)’s march to the Union Buildings tomorrow, 20 September 2022, as well as the various pickets it has held across the country in the build up to this historic march.  The National Leaders of the Federation will join the POPCRU in support of workers legitimate and reasonable demands. The union will be submitting a memorandum of demands and the Federation also wants government to address the following following:

• Reversal of the devastating reduction in head count at the SAPS over the past decade from over 200 000 to 172 000 today, despite the growth in population and the rise in serious crimes.  This needs to include the filling of all funded vacancies and at a pace that keeps ahead of resignation and retirement rates.
• Redeployment of SAPS personnel from head and provincial offices and desk duty where up to two thirds of SAPS members are deployed to community and visible policing and specialised units.
• Ensure the adequate resourcing of all police stations which struggle to function with continuous loadshedding, and where at times less than a third of SAPS vehicles are in working condition.
• Adequately resource the courts to address the never-ending backlog of cases, and to prioritise corruption cases through the commercial crimes’ courts.
• Honour the last leg of the 2018 wage agreement, where government reneged on its signed commitment to increase the salaries of public servants, including SAPS and Correctional Service (DCS) personnel.  This has become all the more painful and plunged SAPS and DCS personnel into serious debt with inflation at an all-time high.  If SAPS and DCS are to be effective in the fight against crime, then they need to be paid a living wage.
• Fast track the Revenue Laws Amendment Bill at Parliament to allow financially struggling workers limited access to their pension funds in March 2023.
• Tackling rampant overcrowding, gangsterism and corruption in our Correctional Service facilities that has made it very difficult for officials to maintain law and order.

Workers and their families are under siege from rising levels of crime.  Many townships have become no go areas and mini war zones, where gangs rule with impunity.  Investment that is badly needed to grow a limping economy, will not come unless South Africa is seen to be ready to turn the tide on crime.

Issued by COSATU     

Sizwe Pamla (Cosatu National Spokesperson)

Tel: 011 339 4911
Fax: 011 339 5080
Cell: 060 975 6794