Law enforcement officers fight dismissal

Axed Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (Leap) officers carried placards that read: ‘’Bring back Leap officers,’’ and ‘’City officials must resolve dismissals’’ as they demonstrated outside Athlone Police Station yesterday. They were among over a hundred officers that the City of Cape Town dismissed in February for failing firearm and driving competency tests.

Hlanathi Gagayi, provincial spokesperson for the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), said the union wants the City of Cape Town to reinstate them and ditch its plans to fire more officers. “The city is in the process of dismissing about 50 officers. It has asked them to motivate why they must not be dismissed,” he said. “Leap officers must return to work. As a union, we can’t allow the city to dismiss workers without following its own policies,” he said.

Rather than dismissal for failing an assessment, Gagayi argued, the Leap officers should be given the opportunity to improve their skills. Samwu wants the city to deploy officers who can’t drive to other units instead of firing the them. “In other departments such as metro police, the city doesn’t dismiss officers who can’t drive. They are given duties that don’t require them to drive.”

LEAP officers facing dismissal

A Leap officer who worked in Samora Machel for four years but failed a recent driving competency test said the city has asked her to explain why she must not be fired. “I can drive, but I panicked during the assessment and failed. Now I must explain to my family why I have lost my job,” she said. “Officials must point out your mistakes and help you after the assessment. I feel as if serving the city is a waste of time because your work is not appreciated.”

An officer who worked in Philippi East for two years said he received a notice of dismissal three weeks ago. “I failed a firearm test. I had never touched a gun before. The city gave us a training which deals with theory for two days and the actual handling of a firearm for one day,” he said. “The city must give us more opportunities to improve our handling of firearms instead of dismissing us.”

Unfair labour practices and disciplinary hearings

Gagayi alleges that the City of Cape Town told the workers that there would be no disciplinary hearing for those currently facing dismissal. “The city says there won’t be any hearings before dismissals. We see this as a new thing. The morale is now low even among those who have not received notices of dismissal. They fear that they may also receive the notices,” he said.

The officers handed their memorandum to Eugene Louw, an assistant chief of law enforcement, safety and security. It demands that the city explain why it dismisses officers “without affording them an opportunity to state their case, and why it ignores its own policies and the Labour Relations Act of 1996.”

The City of Cape Town dismissed the allegations by the union, claiming that the officers were afforded an opportunity to present their case. “The termination of employment was preceded by an internal incapacity process. The officers were all invited to an operational incapacity hearing. Having explained the incapacity process, they were afforded opportunity to present their case before a decision to terminate was considered,” said City of Cape Town spokesperson, Luthando Tyhalibongo. Samwu has lodged a formal dispute with the South African Local Government Bargaining Council; the city would leave responses to any other allegations, Tyhalibongo said, to that forum.