White woman cops mocked
By Cecile Greyling
Source: The Herald Online
Grahamstown – TWO unmarried, white women police officers who took a trip on Saturday to see where they have been transferred to, say they were laughed at by their new black colleagues and intimidated by the community.
The women have been transferred from a quiet Eastern Cape town where petty theft is regarded a serious crime to rural hell in the former Ciskei where murder, rape and serious assault are everyday occurrences.
One of the women, a 27year-old sergeant, said yesterday she feared reprisals if her name and her station were mentioned in the media.
She said she had been told not to “cause any waves”.
She said she feels intimidated, victimised, fears for her job and has received no support from the SAPS. The skills she acquired in her eight-year police career were now counting against her.
The sergeant and a younger white woman constable were given the shock news about their transfer on Friday afternoon. The two women and a man will be the only whites at the station. A total of 36 officers have been transferred in the Grahamstown area.
A captain from Grahamstown told the women the particular station they had been transferred to was “the worst in the area when it comes to productivity”.
When the two officers visited their new station on Saturday the on-duty police officers “burst out laughing”.
“We wanted to go and see what it was like -- if there was anywhere for us to stay and if we would be able to carry on with our lives there.
“They burst out laughing and said: ‘You are coming to work here?’.”
“We were told there were no whites living in the area. They spoke in Xhosa and although we couldn’t understand they were obviously talking about us. The one woman just wouldn’t stop laughing at us. Then they just ignored us.”
The two officers were told that there were no houses available in the town and they would have to stay in the nearby police barracks.
Their nightmare trip became worse when they went to look at the filthy barracks.
“I don’t have words for what we saw. The place is unhygienic and in a mess. The windows are broken and plaster is peeling off the walls.
“Five people live in the house -- men and women. There is nothing in the kitchen and food is cooked on a stove in the living room which has been divided in two with a wall unit. The one half is used as a bedroom.
“The bathroom is filthy. The lid for the toilet is missing and there was no cover on the cistern. There is another house but it’s in the same shape.”
She said she and her colleague would have to share a room. “A black woman who was transferred to Grahamstown told me she was also very unhappy. She can’t afford housing there.”
When the women took a drive around the town they were stared at by residents who were “openly suspicious and unfriendly”.
“One man hit on the van and shouted at us to ‘get out’. I don’t think those people see white women often, let along white police officers.”
She said her friend “threw-up” all the way back home. “I haven’t slept for three days. I can’t eat. I am stressed out.”
She said their lives would be “completed uprooted”. “I will fear for my life there. I won’t be able to be part of the community because I don’t understand the language or culture. I won’t be able to go cycling because it is dangerous. We won’t be able to go to church”.
The sergeant belongs to the NG church and her friend to the APK.
“We are both leaving boyfriends behind. My friend was planning on getting engaged next month.”
She said she joined the police force in 1994 to “serve the community”.
She has completed eight courses in the past two years and feels that her skills are now counting against her because the transfers are being done “to enhance service delivery”.
“Two weeks ago we were asked to fill in a skills audit. My skills filled a whole page. I have worked hard to make the SAPS my career. You have to do courses to be promoted.”
She said she would refuse the transfer. “I don’t know what I am going to do but I will not move there. One must have balance. One’s spiritual and physical health keeps all the other things intact.
“We were not told why we were chosen. Is it because we have the skills, is it because we are women, white and unmarried. Or is it because they want us out of the SAPS?”
The two officers have until tomorrow to appeal against their transfer.
“We were advised not to appeal because if it fails, we will be sent to stations which are even worse.”
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