Confusion about recruitment cleared up
THE CITY of Joburg has explained the recruitment process of 1 500 new metro police after it received complaints that many applicants were being turned away from the training academy.
Member of the mayoral committee for public safety Michael Sun said only shortlisted applicants had been invited to attend a physical fitness test.
“What transpired was that some of the unsuccessful applicants came to the test without having received an invitation and were turned away,” he said.
The JMPD received a staggering 65 000 applications for the posts.
Sun said 7 500 applicants were shortlisted and contacted over 10 days to undergo the first phase of assessment, the physical fitness test.
As per the 2011 gazetted Policy Document of Training Centres, applicants needed to meet certain criteria:
The candidates were shortlisted against the legislative criteria.
The physical fitness test consisted of a 2.4km run, to be completed within 12 min- utes by men and 17 minutes by women.
The applicants who completed the run in the allotted time proceeded to the wall-climbing activity.
Both the tests were designed to determine whether the applicants’ level of fitness met basic criteria, Sun said.
Afterwards applicants would have to do an aptitude test, comprising literacy and numeracy problems.
Those who did well would move on to the next stage – the interview – where their experience and the results of their aptitude and physical tests would be taken into account.
A recruitment agency was appointed to assist with the process, which was designed to be fair, transparent and to avoid any possible nepotism or corruption.
“While we are positively overwhelmed by the interest shown by the men and women who want to become protectors of our city, it is unfortunate that the process will eliminate nearly 63 500 applicants,” Sun said.
“We want to encourage all applicants who did not qualify this time around to continue with their efforts and hope that we will see their applications again during our next intake.”