POLICE and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) members picketed outside the SAPS head office on Wednesday, 22 June.
Union spokesman Richard Mamabolo said Gauteng members marched to Tshwane to deliver a memorandum of demands to national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola.
He said they were protesting against inhumane conditions police trainees were subjected to. They also demand an explanation as to why 745 trainees had not received their stipend for two months.
“Another problem is the quality of food our colleagues have been fed,” he said.
Mamabolo said they had received a number of complaints from various training colleges in Gauteng. He said they want the matter investigated.
The commissioner’s spokeswoman Colonel Athlenda Mathe said SAPS was only aware of 73 trainees who hadn’t received their stipend. She said some were working for other government departments.
Mathe said the SAPS was engaging with the departments to terminate their contracts to allow the system to be able to pay the trainees. She added that there were challenges regarding training conditions at the Kimberley base camp, but they have been addressed and that training has resumed.
Lieutenant-General Fransinah Vuma of support services received the memorandum on behalf of the commissioner.