Publications
Partners
Police and correctional services unions have slammed the state for not consulting them before the lockdown, resulting in confusion and lack of proper protective gear.
Unions representing the police, prison officials and traffic officers have criticised government for not providing them with adequate protection against Covid-19 coronavirus infections as they go about their duties during the national lockdown.
Workers’ representatives have also complained that trade unions were not consulted before the lockdown was imposed, whereas business representatives were.
In response, Minister of Public Service and Administration Senzo Mchunu told City Press that the Covid-19 pandemic was an emergency and there was simply not enough time to consult. But unions representing workers classified in the essential services category said that the government’s decision to exclude them from the consultation process had led to much confusion among members and had resulted in many loose ends.
This week saw “long meetings” between the workers’ unions and employers “to make sure that members are safe just before they take to the streets”. However, the results have been less than satisfying for the unions.
“If you find that the police do not have adequate protective clothing, what happens if they are infected and have to be quarantined?” said Tumelo Mogodiseng, general secretary of the SA Police Union (Sapu).
“The employer [referring to government] seems reluctant to provide protective gear; they cannot be saying that the SA Police Service is failing to get masks and sanitisers.
“That is government’s responsibility – it should give instructions regarding obtaining this gear, without looking at who is the cheapest service provider and so forth. You cannot have the accounting officer [representing police and correctional services] say: ‘I sent an email and I did not get a response.’ There is no time for emails; we need to get people to drive to the suppliers of these protective materials and get things going. Government must stop acting as if things are normal.”
Mogodiseng said that, according to feedback received from police and correctional services management, suppliers had not been responsive to their requests.
“But the fundamental question is: What is happening? This is an extreme situation and the government has implemented extreme measures, so we need to make sure that our members at the forefront are protected first.
“How are you going to do policing if you are not protected? What if tomorrow you test positive for the virus? Our concern is that we should prioritise the safety of the police officers. That is not to say that the rest of society is not important, but we are supposed to make sure that society complies with the president’s instructions.”
Richard Mamabolo, spokesperson for the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, agreed, saying: “The buck stops with management, including in the police and in correctional services, because they are disorganised and all these things were supposed to be done by Wednesday.”
The prevailing perception has been that either Treasury is failing in its attempts at the emergency procurement of wearable items to ward off Covid-19 infections – or that the commissioners of police and correctional services have failed to prepare for this emergency in time.
City Press understands that Treasury had loosened the procurement regulations for government departments and entities – limited to the duration of the national state of disaster – specifically with regard to the expedited purchasing of critical items such as sanitising equipment, ventilators and testing kits to contain and control the transmission of the coronavirus.
On Friday, Treasury said that the annexures to the procurement note “provides the lead times … in terms of delivery once the purchase order is received from the procuring departments” – and that the necessary deviations were allowed even without approval.
“Where the suppliers are not responsive for whatever reason, maybe exhausted stock levels, institutions are guided on how to procure,” said Treasury.
The department of correctional services said the country, along with the entire global community, had been confronted with an unprecedented pandemic that had affected the ability of state institutions to provide continued and uninterrupted services.
In response, correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the department was focused on prevention, containment, treatment and disaster recovery. He said greater emphasis was being placed on prevention by looking at intervention measures such as screening, improving personal and environmental hygiene, the provision of personal equipment, sanitisation and decontamination.
“These intervention aspects depend heavily on behavioural change and adaptation on the part of officials, inmates and anyone else who visits our correctional facilities and administrative offices. The department has activated infection prevention control measures at all management areas, and has given specific directives to ensure that personal protective equipment is availed to staff. It has also pushed for the sanitation of reception areas, cells, offices, vehicles and ablution facilities,” Nxumalo said.
“The urgent procurement of necessary equipment, products and other resources from transversal contracts [centrally facilitated contracts arranged by Treasury for goods and services required] at Treasury has been effected in order to enable the various sections of the department to respond appropriately.”
He added that, given the high demand for materials to help prevent Covid-19 transmission, it was “critical to highlight that suppliers identified by National Treasury have a delivery lead time of between two and three weeks”.
“It is factually incorrect that suppliers identified by Treasury are not contactable,” Nxumalo said.
He said that the department, through its management areas and supply chain stores, had placed purchase orders for items such as sanitisers, gloves and masks.
“In the interim,” said Nxumalo, “the department is placing orders with alternative suppliers that have the items readily available. A notice in this regard has been placed on the correctional services website for potential suppliers to submit quotations and the value of stock that is immediately available.”
The police did not respond to City Press’ questions.
Mogodiseng said that, in Limpopo, traffic officers had nothing to protect themselves: “Some police stations are still waiting for deliveries. They are being told it is on the way, so not everybody is covered at the moment. As Sapu, we are worried because everybody should be covered to make sure that we are safe before we can protect society at large.”
In a joint statement, the Public Servants Association of SA (PSA), the SA Cabin Crew Association and the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said they found it odd that Mchunu did not inform them about this important decision prior to the lockdown announcement.
Mchunu explained that only traditional and religious leaders were part of the discussions. He emphasised that there was no deliberate move to exclude unions.
“After the declaration of the national state of disaster, there was an assessment and a need to intensify our actions. In between all this, the president was only able to have a meeting with religious leaders and then with traditional leaders. Thereafter, escalated measures were announced in the form of a lockdown lasting 21 days,” he said.
Ramaphosa announced that a 21-day lockdown would be imposed on Monday, after the number of Covid-19 cases in the country continued to rise.
Mchunu encouraged workers who were facing challenges such as the ones mentioned above to speak to their supervisors. He stressed that there was an open communication line between unions and government departments.
Reuben Maleka, assistant general manager of the PSA, told City Press that there could have been fewer hiccups on the first day of the lockdown if the matter had been discussed with the respective unions.
“We really believe that with our inputs we would have seen a smooth transition into the lockdown. I am receiving many calls from members about the logistics, about how things are happening. The calls I got early on Friday morning were mainly about transport. Correctional
services officials say there are no sanitisers, masks or any protective gear at their centres,” he said.
According to the union, the confusion was reported mainly by correctional service workers in KwaZulu-Natal and by health workers in Limpopo.
Some of the complaints by the PSA members go against the labour department’s prescriptions in the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1993 when it comes to regulating workplaces in relation to Covid-19.
Koena Ramotlou, general secretary of Samwu, also lamented the communication lapse between organised labour and government.
“If we had been consulted properly, we would have agreed on what needs to happen,” he said.
 |
| ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
