The recent conduct of police reservists is a direct opposite of rights and privileges

The recent conduct of police reservists is a direct opposite of rights and privileges

BY | NATHI MTHETHWA

The advent of a democratic dispensation has afforded all citizens of the Republic various freedoms and privileges. Included in these are rights to engage freely and where in disagreement with the other person, to express oneself without fear of intimidation. However, with all these privileges comes responsible conduct. I believe that the recent conduct of police reservists is a direct opposite of these rights and privileges.

The fight against crime is an integrated approach that requires the contribution of communities, business and other role-players. The beefing up of the Police Force, by police reservists and officers is central to the attainment of an upper hand in the war against criminals.

From the onset, the reservist system was never introduced as a stepping stone to securing permanent employment into the Force. Instead it was aimed at allowing citizens to volunteer their time to assist the police in fighting crime. When reservists signed up as volunteers, they signed agreements which clearly stated that they were volunteering their services to the police and that there was no expectation of permanent, neither employment nor remuneration agreement entered into.
As the police leadership and management, we remain committed to the processes of recruitment of individual reservist who meet the criteria established for enrolment into the Force. For the benefit of the public, the Ministry clearly outlined the processes and steps we followed in addressing the challenges facing these reservists. We took this approach to counter any form of misrepresentation that has been spread by certain reservists in relation to the recruitment processes and agreements reached with them.

Over the past week however, we have witnessed a number of illegal demonstrations by groups of police reservists, demanding full and unconditional integration in the Force. The latest marches in Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg are reminiscent of cowardice acts. The latter march in particular shows an unfortunate lack of understanding of the kind of conduct expected of would-be-officers as well as little regard for the stability of the country or the oath they took when they were first recruited as reservists.

To even channel their ridiculous grievances, flouting insults in an unorderly manner to the ANC Headquarters instead of the SAPS Head Office, shows sheer ignorance. Policing matters are neither a political nor mobilization issues but operational aspects that need to be addressed at the level of a government department.
What South Africans need to understand, something the reservists deliberately fail to carry on their placards when they embarked on these senseless marches, is that the Ministry is not dealing with an officially-recognized union, where an across-the-board progression will be implemented. And this was made clear right from the beginning.

There is nowhere in the world; whether Government of private sector where an employer can make an appointment to a potential employee, unconditionally. Otherwise we would all be doctors who had never been to medical school but by virtue of our caring attitude for those who are sick, teachers who had not gone to training colleges but filled with passion for learners, or police who are not even fit to chase a criminal but can operate firearms.

Now who in the right frame of mind would take on board, cowards who masquerade as reservists, who go on a national platform hurling insults in broad daylight? What kind of message are they sending to the society that expects to be protected and not threatened? Such conduct indicates desperate individuals, who are hell-bent on joining the Force for ulterior motives…probably to infiltrate our members with their negative conduct. Will we allow this? Is this the new kind officer we have in mind? Absolutely not! If this is indeed the kind of officers who see themselves as part of our Force, oh cry the beloved country!

Our stance, which we communicated through an open-engagement approach, premised from an unmoved position that there will be no automatic integration of reservists into the Force. We emphasized that each applicant will be assessed individually and not as a collective because we are intent on ensuring that we bring on board quality and not fill the Force with quantity. There will be no unconditional employment into the Force, reservists or not. The doors are open for anyone to leave the Force if one thinks he or she can short-circuit requirements of being a police.

However, despite our dissatisfaction with the manner in which some of the reservists have conducted themselves, we are aware that there are some who remain steadfast in their pledge to assist the country in fighting crime. It needs to be understood that not all reservists are ill-disciplined hence from our initial engagements; we emphasized that selection into the Force will be on an individual basis, not a collective. Such well-mannered reservists have played key roles in helping police in the fight against crime and have been used extensively in crime prevention operations. Precisely to avoid situations where good reservists are mirrored with the evil ones.

On 23 March 2009, a Summit was held to address the reservist system and challenges that exist regarding the system. This Summit addressed concerns raised by reservists and was attended by representatives of reservists country wide. A resolution was then taken by all stakeholders that reservists who were unemployed and who met the South African Police Service recruitment criteria would be considered - not an automatic integration of all - for recruitment as permanent members.

If there was ever a time when they were unhappy, it should have been immediately after this Summit. But alas, almost a year later we see them canvassing behind our back, insulting not only the police leadership but also the Highest Office in the Republic and yet expect to be brought on board as the protectors of the Constitution? Heaven help us all.

Our position at the Summit was clear: the process of automatic integration has never been on the agenda. We were not going to compromise our recruitment standards but at the same time we outlined that there maybe a few requirements which could be re-evaluated and relaxed in order to accommodate reservists’ employment as permanent employees. We need to reiterate that even at this Summit it was made clear that the enlistment process would be conducted and assessed on an individual basis, not as a collective group.
Listed below is the agreed areas related to recruitment of reservists:
• The issue of recruits needing to have permanent residential status could not be relaxed and would remain intact as a prerequisite
• No comprise could be made regarding reservists recruits needing to pass their psychometric test because this speaks to the recruits suitability to serve as a permanent member of the force
• We will not relax or compromise of the criteria of recruits not having any previous criminal records or convictions
• All reservist recruits would, as with other recruits, be forced to undergo both medical examinations and fitness assessments
• We will not relax training requirements and all reservist recruits would need to undergo the prescribed training for new recruits
There were some areas where the criteria would be relaxed or where under particular circumstances the criteria could be relaxed:
• The age limit for recruitment of reservists was relaxed to accommodate reservists who had more than three years experience from 30 to 40 years of age.
• The issue of recruits having to be in possession of a valid driver’s license would be relaxed for reservists who had three years or more experience.
• The issue of all recruits be required to have passed grade 12 would remain in place.

However if a reservist had passed grade 10 or 11 and had three years experience they could submit a written motivation to the Secretary of Police outlining why they felt, based on their experience as reservists, this criteria should be relaxed. The Secretary of Police would then deal with each submission based on its merits.
To even imagine that we lowered our recruitment standards, to accommodate the majority of them which by the way, was our discretion as Police leadership. Surely beyond these relaxations, it would mean that we attract quantity and not quality within the Force. We cannot bend backwards beyond these criterions.
In fact such conduct by would-be-officers clearly indicates the kind of candidates in our midst and do not need within the Force. We expect our officers to uphold the highest form of discipline, commitment, responsibility and exemplary behaviour and not the opposite. In the Force, there is no such room for such despicable thugs who masquerade as would-be-police.

Based on the relaxed criteria agreed to, a communiqué was then disseminated instructing provincial and divisional commissioners to prioritise qualifying reservists with a commendable track record for participation, recruitment and enlistment processes as well as for future intakes. Police management further undertook visits to all provinces to explain the process to reservists and to facilitate the recruitment and enlistment of reservists. Those interested in joining SAPS were requested to complete a preliminary application form.

On the SAPS database 25 931 reservists expressed interest in enlisting as permanent employees. Of the 25 931 who filled out the recruitment forms for recruitment only 8 619 passed the basic criteria related to permanent residency, no criminal record, age (that is under 40 years of age) language and education qualifications.
The 8 619 applicants were then sent for medical, fitness and psychometric assessments and of these 6 664 were rejected based on the outcome of the assessments. More than 1 900 recruits will be commencing with their training this coming Sunday, 14 February 2010. We further recruited more than five hundred as clerks. These are the people whom we hold in high regard because they have followed the process as it was explained.

But we did not end the process there; we then instructed that should any reservist feel that they were unfairly assessed or compromised during the process, then they are free to submit a request to the Police Civilian Secretariat to allow for this to be thoroughly investigated and addressed. The emphasis we made for such queries were that they need to be legitimate issues and not wild and unfounded allegations. The Secretariat immediately began the process, further requested that such complaints be put in writing and is currently being fully investigated and processed.

The Ministry adopted a transparent approach to this matter to ensure that we accord each reservist a fair chance. We cannot and will not compromise on the integrity of the Force for the sake of appeasing those reservists who have failed to meet the basic criteria and want to hold the process hostage.

Perhaps the timing of these reservists’ conduct helps our cause as we are in the processing of rooting out negative and corrupt elements within the Force. By displaying such conduct publicly, our job has been somehow simplified. As for the empty threats by certain groups of reservists that they will make the FIFA World Cup ungovernable, let them try. We will not tolerate such rubbish.

We make a kind-hearted appeal to such cowards to take time to listen to one kwaito songs currently hitting the airwaves, with the following lyrics: “umlilo uzokushisa ungalokothi, uwothe” loosely translated “watch out for the fire, it will burn you.” So all the ill-disciplined and unruly reservists have been warned.

Nathi Mthethwa is the Minister of Police