Following Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s commitment to enhance police capacity by expanding their workforce to bolster their fight against crime, ActionSA has called on him to ensure that the thousands of sidelined police reservists are fully integrated into the SAPS crime-fighting efforts.
According to Member of Parliament Dereleen James, the focus on expanding the workforce revolves around hiring 10,000 police trainees in the 2024/2025 financial year. While this expansion is crucial, the minister overlooked any plans in his department’s budget vote to incorporate the thousands of experienced and committed reservists who are already diligently serving in their police stations and their communities.
Moreover, James said across South Africa, police reservists, many with service numbers, have answered the call of duty to assist in the fight against crime. However, their valuable contributions have been undercut for years, leading to a decline in the number of police reservists by tens of thousands over the past decade due to the collapse of the reservist programme.
James said these reservists are also severely prejudiced by having Persal numbers that imply that they are employees of the State which precludes them from any social assistance and housing, despite the fact that they do not get paid a salary as reservists but only receive stipends upon official call-ups.
It is now incumbent of minister Mchunu to break from the disastrous tenure of his predecessor, which led to the collapse of the reservist programme, said James.
“ActionSA will be engaging with the minister to immediately embark on a proactive programme to resurrect and fully integrate the thousands of able and committed reservists who are ready to contribute to SAPS’ plans to increase visibility with more boots on the ground, improve community responsiveness and detection rates, and build public confidence in the police service,’’ said James.
ActionSA is fully committed to supporting the increased participation of police reservists in South Africa’s fight against crime and will fight to ensure that experienced reservist are properly integrated into SAPS and are recognised and fairly compensated for their valuable contributions they make to the police service, it said.
IOL