Cape Town - The SAPS has pulled out all the stops to bolster its capacity to keep things under control during the EFF’s shutdown today.
The service has promised about R6 000 to each officer in “special” allowances from Friday to the end of the shutdown operation on Wednesday, according to at least three sources in the SAPS.
SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe hadn’t responded to queries at the time of writing, but the Cape Argus can disclose that officers were recalled from sick leave and normal leave and officers and administrators were promised up to R1400 per day in overtime.
This publication has seen SAPS chief financial officer Major-General Puleng Dimpane’s letter to the police, dated March 15, and titled “payment measures and procedure during the planned national shutdown operation”.
“We have been promised almost R6000 by the end of the shutdown, although the powers that be said it and we don’t have written communication for it yet. We still have outstanding overtime money due to us for a previous national operation,” one of the sources said.
Another said he had received written communication that states he would be paid a R1 162 special allowance, as well as a R252 meal for every 12-hour shift, from Friday to Wednesday.
Dimpane’s letter referred to the special daily overtime allowance and said: “Travel time is not overtime nor would the special daily allowance (of) R1 162 be payable if not deployed for longer than 12 hours.”
The SAPS has an estimated 185 000 people in its employ.
“All members deployed for the event are classified as office workers for the duration of the event,” Dimpane said in the letter.
SAPS employees who leave home from 6am and return home after 8pm get R252, plus R173 for trips longer than eight hours, and R60 for trips longer than four hours.
Furthermore, her letter shows that “accommodated” employees will get a R345 meal.
“The non-pensionable overtime allowance per day must be immediately scheduled and marked for payment,” Dimpane said in her letter.