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The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) salutes and congratulates its affiliate, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU), on reaching 34 years of existence. This is a monumental milestone as the union emerged at the height of the liberation struggle in 1989. Since then, it has pushed back against countless challenges facing thousands of police, corrections, and traffic officials.

Law enforcement officials work under unfavorable conditions that are exacerbated by a policing system that lacks proper allocation of recourses and minimal support from the state.  Police officers have the daily daunting task of protecting the public in a country engulfed with high levels of crime alongside an unrealistic national police-to-population ratio, which is one officer for every 413 residents. They are killed on or off duty as they are apparent targets for their firearms with inflicted inadequate resources, and manpower.

Correctional Service and traffic officers also carry the same burden in the public service sector marred with the non-implementation of signed agreements, the deteriorating extent of members’ working conditions and the lack of career growth.

COSATU commends the union and its members for demonstrating consistent defiance of the system’s shortcomings and remaining a beacon of hope to the police, correctional and traffic officers.The union has clearly adopted the resolutions of the commitment of the Federations’ Central Executive Committee to intensify the task of building strong unions and improving their level of service to members at the workplace.

The Federation extends best wishes to POPCRU for its 10th National Congress to be held from the 6th to the 10th of November in Durban.  

The Federation is confident that the congress will be successful and that robust deliberations will bear fruits to further provide resolutions that will continue to secure desirable workplaces for the men and women who compromise their lives for the safety of all South Africans.

Long Live POPCRU, long live!

Issued by COSATU