‘More boots on the ground’: Popcru calls for police head office trimming
· Citizen
Thulani Ngwenya, president of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), is calling for the police head office to be trimmed and devolving policy implementation to police stations to enable effective policing to fight crime.
Addressing the union’s central executive committee meeting in Boksburg yesterday, Ngwenya said the police head office is too top-heavy and must be cut to a few individuals, not only to save costs but also to increase the number of boots on ground.
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“We are calling for trimming the police head office. We are telling them, ‘there are too many of you’, ” said Ngwenya.
“The police must get out of the head office and fight crime in the streets. Those in uniform must gain their experience in the streets. The head office is top-heavy. We have been saying that and we are still saying it today. We don’t need people at the head office. What are they doing there?”
“The fewer the police at head office, the better. People deserve a safer South Africa and that is possible if the implementers are filtered down to the police stations.”
‘Nothing about us without us’
Ngwenya condemned duplication of activities within the SA Police Service (Saps), with many policing investigative units performing the same tasks, which caused tension and infighting among members.
“We are saying as Popcru nothing about us without us,” said Ngwenya.
Popcru is a Cosatu affiliate and the oldest police union, founded by Lieutenant Gregory Rockman on 5 November, 1989.
At the time, Rockman came under heavy attack by the apartheid authorities for introducing trade unionism among members of what was known as SAP.
A call to challenge the status quo
Ngwenya paid tribute to the role played by 1976 youth and women who fought against pass laws in 1956.
He said if the youth and women of the time were steadfast in opposing apartheid policies, nothing should prevent the women and youth of today from emulating them in challenging the status quo.
He condemned the killing of police officers and urged the youth to participate in efforts to stop the carnage.
The youth must reject the glorification of criminals who are given fancy nicknames and treated as heroes for their crimes and killing police, added Ngwenya.
He asked what the ANC Youth League and Young Communist League, a youth wing of the SACP, were doing to challenge the status quo, as the 1976 generation had.
“What more must happen before the youth take a firm stand against violence targeting the police?” Ngwenya asked.
He said the Southern African Development Community, which met in Durban recently, must stop meeting and making decisions about workers without their input.
“No decision must be taken about us without us,” Ngwenya said, adding the Zambian government is in the process of implementing a South African-style two-pot system and austerity measures that are detrimental to workers’ interests.