CAPE TOWN - Over 200 members of the Motor Transport Workers Union (MTWU) of the cash-in-transit (CIT) industry delivered their memorandum to the Western Cape provincial legislature on Tuesday.
The MTWU, along with the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa), said they demand “effective and vital police intelligence on behalf of their members working at various cash-in-transit companies who find themselves in the line of fire on the daily basis”.
Among others, the unions demand “an immediate stop to the brutal slaughter of their security officers and state regulation of firearms, that security officers be given powerful weapons to protect themselves".
They said they also demand the basic salary increase from R11,500 to R20,000 per month.
Motor Transport Workers Union (MTWU) outside Western Cape Provincial legislature. VIDEO: Lubaba Poswa/ANA Pictures.
Accepting the memorandum, the Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille said: “The number of cash-in-transit heists has grown alarmingly, and your lives and lives of the innocent bystanders are genuinely at risk every day.
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“And as you rightly note in your memorandum, if you can’t do your job, millions of people can't get their social grant for example. So the knock-on effect on the risk of that you face affects the most vulnerable people in our society."
She added that the South African Police Service (SAPS) should do everything possible to protect the people.
"Now I do understand that the South African Police Service is overextended but very often these cash-in-transit heists are inside jobs. And that's why crime intelligence needs to be increased, which is the point which you make in your memorandum, you want better crime intelligence to find out where these things are happening and that is the point that I'm agreeing with."
She told the union members that she had full sympathy with their demands, however, stated that the provincial government had limited powers over the police.
"We only have oversight powers, we have no operational control over the SAPS at all. But what I certainly will do, is take your demands to where the operational control is and we will start an oversight program to look at what is happening in response to your demands," she said.
"We will do our best to have a proper oversight model and we will do our best to report to you what has happened as a result of your petition because your work is crucial as I just explained."