Popcru urges promotions for prison warders, calls for equal pay
Union president Zizamele Cebekhulu-Makhaza assured correctional service members that they qualify for promotions as agreed with the government
Image: Rorisang Kgosana
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has slammed law enforcement and the department of correctional services for unequal pay and for lacking political will to fight crime.
President Zizamele Cebekhulu-Makhaza was addressing members of the union, including prison officials, police officers and traffic police, at the Kgosi Mampuru prison in Pretoria on Wednesday.
The meeting was a fact-finding mission but also to tell members of the progress made in addressing their issues.
One of the proposals by the union is that law enforcement officers should earn equal pay among their members.
“G4S prison officials earn more than correctional service officials. Traffic officers earn differently in different provinces, with the Western Cape paying the highest among the provinces,” he said.
What they have secured is to ensure there is a promotion policy within the department of correctional services. This will be based on experience and qualifications, Cebekhulu-Makhaza said.
“We have agreed on a promotion policy. It is signed and sealed and needs an implementation plan. To be considered you have two years of uninterrupted service with a relevant qualification or, with no qualification, four years of uninterrupted service,” he said.
However, when it came to provincial traffic officers, he said they did not receive death benefits, unlike correctional service and police officials.
“We need the traffic departments to be nationalised and not placed under different departments. Death grants for police and correctional services is between R250,000 and R300,000, but traffic officers get nothing,” he said.
He slammed the police for not being deployed on the ground, saying half of the new police recruits were office-bound, including thousands of police members at headquarters in Pretoria.
“We must applaud Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi for the work that he is doing to fight crime. That is what we call political will. Not ‘Operation O Kae Molao’. The crime in this country is not about dagga but serious crimes.”
The visit is expected to continue on Thursday in Vereeniging before the union ends its roadshow in the North West.