Johannesburg - Douglasdale police officers were given 48 hours to give reasons why they should not be suspended for intimidating and threatening to kill their station commander.
The officers – close to a 100 – were on Wednesday summoned to the provincial office in Parktown, where they were issued with letters of notice of intention to suspend.
This emanates largely from Monday’s incident where they stormed station commander Brigadier Leon Kruger’s office, demanding that he leave the station or risk “a repeat of what happened in Rosebank” in 2011, where an officer opened fire, firing 12 shots at station commander Thandi Mkhize and killing another police officer before killing himself.
The officers accuse Kruger and two other senior officers of being racist and freely using the k-word.
“Take note that your suspension without remuneration is being considered in terms of regulation 13 (2) of the SAPS Act 68 of 1995,” read one of the letters issued to the officers on Wednesday.
Reasons for the pending suspension were that:
* On Thursday, February 29 at 4pm, “you, together with other members from SAPS Douglasdale, gathered at the gate of the Douglasdale police station and demanded the removal of the station commander, Brigadier Kruger, Colonel Swart and Colonel Kruger from the station.
* On Monday, February 2 at 8.30am, “you convened a meeting with Brigadier Kruger, informing him that they were not wanted at the police station and that their presence is an irritation that will lead to people being hurt”.
The officers were told to submit written submissions to a Brigadier J Basson within 48 hours of receipt of the notice.
Wednesday’s move nearly saw unions hauling police bosses to court, but a last-minute agreement not to dismiss the officers with immediate effect was secured, South African Policing Union (Sapu) general secretary Oscar Skommere said.
“We were intending to go to court, but that approach of interdicting them was only if they refuse to follow procedure.
“We said it cannot be a dismissal outright because these people are essential and they cannot strike.
“They never embarked on a strike (merely standing around the station but performing their duties), so you can’t dismiss them.
“The intention now is ‘we are intending to suspend you on the basis that you intimidated the commander’,” Skommere said.
He said their lawyers were ready to approach the Labour Court if any of the officers are suspended on Friday.
Skommere could not give the exact number of police officers involved, saying there were about 100 and that 30 of those who had already received letters by 3pm were Sapu members.
On Tuesday, Tactical Response Team members were set on the officers, taking their service pistols to avert a possible deadly situation.
One officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said rampant racism that had gone unaddressed had driven the officers into the action they took.
The Star