SAPS plan to rehire ex cops ‘a joke’
July 25 2015 at 03:24pm
By Rabbie Serumula
By Rabbie Serumula
In
dependent MediaSAPS received 2800
applications to re-enlist in the service. File photo: Skyler Reid.
Johannesburg - Are former cops who resigned queuing up to rejoin the
force? The SAPS says yes, but unions representing police officers say no.
The SAPS announced that almost 3 000 former members had applied to be
re-enlisted.
It had received 2 800 applications from former officers who wanted to
rejoin the service and 1 000 applications came from former police detectives by
the June 15 closing date. Only 748 posts are available.
But the South African Police Union (Sapu) says the supposed
re-enlistments are “a joke”.
Sapu general secretary Oscar Skommere said this week that most members
had left the service because of the trying conditions under which they worked –
and many who resigned had not been paid a severance package.
“This is the joke of the year if the national commissioner thinks former
officers would just jump and come back to the service because she invites them
to,” he said.
“The re-enlistment of former officers could only be realistic if the
SAPS dramatically transforms itself. Promotions have been in the forefront but
members are not promoted. Most of them have 10 years or longer service, but
remain in one rank, so their pension funds are negatively affected.”
He said national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega should first
consider the reasons why officers were leaving in droves instead of praising
their return.
He said the re-enlistments would create tension in the workplace because
of the emotional impact it would have on those who had remained and hoped for
promotions.
Johan Burger, from the Institute for Security Studies, shared the
sentiment about re-enlistments causing tension. He said the SAPS would need to
ascertain, especially within the senior ranks, that no officer who was
qualified was available for posts that were vacant before giving the job to a
former officer.
But Burger said the SAPS needed to re-enlist former officers to fill
departments that needed capacity. “They will bring many years of experience and
well-developed skills.” But if the plan was not well managed it could explode
in their faces, he said.
Police spokesman Brigadier Vish Naidoo said there was nothing sinister
about the loss of members in the SAPS as all government departments and private
companies lost employees for various reasons.
“Many government departments lose sizeable numbers of employees as a
result of confusion about pension fund benefits. The SAPS was also affected.
Despite this, our attrition rate for 2014 was 3.5 percent of our workforce,
well below the normal 4.5 to 5 percent.
“From these applications, the SAPS aims to appoint former constables,
sergeants, warrant officers and lieutenants to posts in the detective service
and visible policing divisions, the two environments within the SAPS that need
capacity.”
Applicants who had left the service while a disciplinary matter was
pending against them will not be considered, nor will those with criminal
records, Phiyega said.
The applicants would be vetted and their fingerprints checked to ensure
that none had criminal records.The successful 748 candidates would be
re-enlisted in the ranks they had previously held in the service but not above
the rank of lieutenant, irrespective of the rank they held when leaving the
SAPS.
They must be 50 years and younger because they need to be able to serve
at least 10 years in the service before reaching the pensionable age of 60.
Naidoo said re-enlistment boards would be convened in all provinces with
representation from police headquarters to consider applications and make final
recommendations to a human resources committee. The plan was to finalise the
process by the end of November.
Saturday Star
