Hundreds of Popcru members marched down Adderley Street in central Cape Town to protest over salary grades.
|||Cape Town - Hundreds of Popcru members marched down Adderley Street in central Cape Town on Wednesday afternoon to protest over salary grades.
The police administrative staff, dressed in red and yellow, slowly made their way towards the provincial police building in Green Point to hand over their memorandum of demands.
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) Western Cape secretary Mncedisi Mbolekwa said the march would shut down essential provincial support services.
“We will shut down every (police) support service in the Western Cape... That includes human resources, finance and supply chain management,” he said.
Three police vehicles led the march, followed by a truck with a loudspeaker and generator.
Congress of SA Trade Union officials acted as marshalls.
Some people blew vuvuzelas, and one carried a sign with the words: “Top management must adhere to agreement or face war. Away with low wages”.
Other signs read: “Popcru rescue us from this SAPS madness”, “SAPS is worse than apartheid” and “Why should we beg?”
At one point the crowd sang: “Is this dog, Phiyega? She is taking our rights from us.” Riah Phiyega is the national police commissioner.
Staff were protesting over the safety and security sectoral bargaining council agreement signed in 2011, which had apparently not yet been implemented.
The agreement contains provisions related to pay level upgrades and career path planning. - Sapa