The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) is expected to meet with Grahamstown Police authorities after a fallout between Cluster Commander of the Grahamstown Police Brigadier Morgan Govender and members of staff at Seven Fountains police station.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) is expected to meet with Grahamstown Police authorities after a fallout between Cluster Commander of the Grahamstown Police Brigadier Morgan Govender and members of staff at Seven Fountains police station.
Seven Fountains is 13km from Grahamstown. Police officers living in Grahamstown and working at the Seven Fountains police station say they are forced to hitch hike to work after Govender took away the vans.
Fellow commuters have been startled by groups of up to 10 SAPS members in uniform hitch-hiking in Beaufort Street during the past two weeks.
In a statement to Grocott's Mail Brigadier Morgan Govender said his move follows complaints by the office of the Public Protector and the office of the MEC for Safety and Liaison in the Eastern Cape about abuse of state-owned vehicles at Seven Fountains Police Station.
Govender said the police are not obliged to provide transport for employees to and from their place of residence.
"Authority may be granted in certain exceptional circumstances only after an application is received," said Govender.
He said members of the police sign an agreement upon appointment acknowledging that they are responsible for their own transport to and from work.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of the officers claimed that depriving them of transport was Govender's response to an earlier complaint about him.
According to the source, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union will meet with senior officers in the Grahamstown police in an effort to iron out the matter.
