Police officers being paid for nothing
THE role of the police is to protect citizens. The pertinent question is: are South African citizens feeling safe in the hands of the police? The answer is a big no. Police are earning their salaries for doing nothing.
Police Minister Bheki Cele and National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole are aware that the public doesn’t feel safe in the hands of the police. However, they’re doing nothing to regain the trust of the public. In other words, they don't care.
What concerns me the most is how they treat blacks. They treat black people as if they are strangers in their own land. They have no respect for the majority of people in this country.
The Batho Pele Principles (“respect” is one of the principles) is just a theory to them.
Last week, labour federation Saftu organised a national strike over the minimum wage. The strike was on the same day as the Budget speech (the timing was no coincidence).
The turnout was not impressive but the message was delivered.
In Cape Town, Saftu members were not given permission to march but they had gathered with the intention to march. When police arrived, they instructed the group to disperse.
Saftu members had obliged but the police still approached one black federation member and forced him into a van. He tried to explain that he was going to his car but the police did not lend him an ear.
Not long ago, whites in Cape Town went to the beach by force, breaking the lockdown curbs. They did not wear masks nor apply physical distancing.
When the police arrived at the beach, they stood and watched the law breakers, instead of dispersing them. Whites then charged at the police and they (police) ran away. None of the lawbreakers were manhandled. Yet they provoked the police.
Without a doubt, the SAPS are anti-black. They are ill-treating and persecuting blacks on the basis of their skin colour, just like in the past, under a democratic government. And they are getting away with murder. When is this nonsense going to stop?
THABILE MANGE | Joburg