Amid growing complaints of misconduct and sexual abuse, Popcru and Cosatu say trainees must be protected and perpetrators held accountable.
A group of members from the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) marched yesterday to demand respect for workers in the industry.
Union members marched from Burger Park to the national police commissioner’s office to hand over a memorandum of demands which forms part of their Restore Dignity campaign.
The campaign aims to defend workers’ rights, uphold human dignity in the criminal justice cluster and demand decisive action against systemic injustices affecting members of the South African Police Service and Correctional Services.
Misconduct and sexual exploitation allegations
Popcru spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said the march comes in light of the many misconducts and allegations of sexual exploitation at Saps training facilities and workplaces in general.
Mamabolo said the march followed a recent event at a training college where a trainee was sexually assaulted.
Earlier this year, a 59-year-old officer was arrested for allegedly raping a 20-year-old trainee and sexually assaulting another at the Pretoria Police Training Academy.
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“The matter is currently appearing before the court, so as part of awareness and communicated clearly that they need to take action. Police should be a place of safety. Trainees should not be vulnerable and those who perpetrate sexual assault need to be held accountable,” he said.
Memorandum of demands
Mamabolo said their demands included victim processes, a 24-hour anonymous hotline for members and condemning any form of sexual harassment in the workplace.
“Since that incident, we have had a lot of people coming forward with similar challenges, not just in Gauteng but across the country. We will be following up on those complaints,” he said.
“Sexual harassment is a serious violation of human rights and a gross abuse of power.”
Cosatu calls for respect and dignity
Cosatu general secretary Solly Phetoe said the security departments did not respect the legislation of the country, with issues of the abuse of workers and the abuse and sexual harassment of women.
Phetoe called for the respect and dignity of workers and said they must act against anybody abusing the rights of workers.
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