The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) in the Gauteng Province has today, Monday 02 June 2025, embarked on a series of rolling pickets across South African Police Service (SAPS) Academies in the province. These coordinated actions, involving Shopstewards, Full-Time Shopstewards (FTSS), and general membership, are a clear and determined response to growing concerns around the reported sexual victimization of vulnerable trainees—irrespective of their gender or sexual orientation.

POPCRU has received disturbing allegations suggesting that certain SAPS training institutions have become breeding grounds for unchecked sexual exploitation, harassment, and abuse. These pickets serve not only as a voice of protest, but as a call for systemic change.

Two further pickets are scheduled to take place as follows;

• Place: SAPS Academy Hammanskraal

• Date: Wednesday, 04 June 2025

• Time: 13H00 – 14H00

• SAPS Academy Moloto

• Thursday, 05 June 2025

• 13H00 – 14H00

The union will be raising awareness on the urgent need for ongoing, inclusive, and robust awareness and accountability programmes within these academies. We believe it is critical that everyone who interacts with trainees—whether instructors, support staff or external parties—undergo continuous training on issues of consent, power dynamics, professionalism, and respect for human dignity, particularly across all sexual orientations and gender identities.

POPCRU Demands:

1. Immediate investigations into all reported and unreported cases of sexual abuse within SAPS training facilities.

2. The implementation of comprehensive, trauma-informed sexual harassment and abuse prevention policies that are enforceable and transparent.

3. Protection mechanisms for whistleblowers and victims who come forward.

4. Mandatory training and sensitization programmes for all staff and commanders interacting with trainees.

5. An independent oversight structure to monitor and evaluate the implementation of these measures.

As a union committed to upholding the rights, dignity, and safety of workers and trainees within the criminal justice cluster, POPCRU will continue to mobilize until justice is seen and accountability enforced.

Issued by POPCRU Gauteng on 02/06/2025

For more information, contact Lerata Motsiri (Provincial Secretary) on 082 492 4272