Pretoria – A Pretoria North police officer who allegedly used the K-word on a junior colleague had continued with his duties as normal, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said on Monday.
Its vice-president Maanda Singo said in addition, black officers at the Pretoria North police station were constantly subjected to verbal abuse and bullying by the senior member of the team.
He said the officer, whose identity has been withheld by The Star, had not faced any action for his wrongdoings.
Singo said that in July 2014, the officer called another member the K-word and when a grievance was filed to that effect, the documents went missing.
“When a follow-up was conducted regarding the matter, it was discovered that the file had gone missing and that the officer had instead gone and lodged a case of intimidation against the junior officer."
“During additional meetings held between the union and the SAPS management, the officer in question refused to apologise or show any remorse regarding these actions,” Singo said.
Popcru chairperson Risenga Mashimbye said other members had also come to the union complaining about the unfair treatment meted out to them by the officer.
A lieutenant, who refused to be named for fear of victimisation, said she also lodged a complaint after she was denied leave by the officer.
She was told to find someone else and train them to do her job before she could be allowed to take leave.
“What he is doing goes against the labour laws of this country. We’re saying no to racism at station level and for action to be taken against the member immediately, without further delay."
“No steps were taken against the officer and what he did was against the constitution,” said Mashimbye.
When approached regarding the allegations, the officer declined to comment, stating that the issue was being looked into by the station commander.
However, the station commander, Colonel Matshidiso Kgoadi, said she was deployed to the Pretoria North station from Wonderboom in September and was not yet up to speed with some of the issues.