Metro police vehicles marked to boost numbers and fool public - Officer

By Tarryn Le Chat
13 December 2006

Irate metro police and traffic officers warned that Cape Town could be in chaos over the festive season on Tuesday. This statement comes about if the city ignores their demands to revise the pay parity structures and conditions of employment currently being put in place.

They have given the city until Thursday afternoon to respond to a memorandum, handed over on Tuesday by a delegation of the South African Municipal workers’ Union (Samwu), calling for the freezing of the city’s restructuring until a new decision is reached at the bargaining council.

If the city refuses, frustrated metro police and traffic officers have vowed to take action “that could destabilise the city”.

Metro police officers later threatened to blockade first the N2, then the N1, if their demands were not met.

City manager, Achmat Ebrahim said that as with any organisational change, there would be errors. Time should be allowed for the process to be finalised and the city is taking serious note of the officer’s frustrations.

Andre Adams of Samwu said the treatment of city employees by management ‘was not in good faith’.