When touring Police Stations on Wednesday,Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini made a statement accusing the police of ill-treating the public perhaps, due to lack of training.
Firstly, let me bring to the attention of the Prime Minister that, not all police officers in this country ill-treat the public, some of us who were once arrested by the police have experienced the humanity of professional cops who treat another human being with dignity.
Of course, there are police officers who behave like hitmen, they torture and kill citizens in the name of investigation, those officers deserve to be removed from our society by all means possible.
But we cannot overlook the issue of low salaries that create frustration, depression and stress among the members of the law enforcement agency, some police officers are literally broke.
The Prime Minister must first address the issue of salaries within the police service, we cannot have officers of the law who are financially struggling and pretend as if everything is normal.
The financial challenges within the civil service is not, in any way, the results of alleged mismanagement of funds by the police or other public servants, Government has been refusing to conduct a salary review for close to ten(10) years now.
Accusing police officers of ill-treating the public due to lack of training will not solve the problem, what is needed here is money, Government must prioritize paying public servants including security officers decent salaries that will enable them to survive and be productive at work, consistent trainings are a necessity but not the real cause.
Being broke and languishing in debts creates stress and depression,most police officers are in that situation.
As the Minister of Police, the Prime Minister must just increase salaries for the police, we won’t question or blame him for doing that but, we will also demand a salary increase for all civil servants because almost all public servants are broke.
We cannot mix politics and the welfare of police officers, where they have done wrong, we will criticize and encourage them to do better but, Government must pay decent salaries.
We have Station Commanders in this country who earn a mere three thousand Rands(R3,000.00) after deductions and some junior officers are terrorized by shylocks and they earn a mere one thousand five hundred Rands(R1,500.00) after deductions.
This financial struggles came after Government failed to review salaries for the past ten(10) years amid the ever escalating costs of basic commodities.
Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini(pic: Gov).