‘Police officers are murdered every day’: Samwu challenges recording of Tshwane metro cops

The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) says Tshwane is putting the lives of metro police officers in the city at risk by allowing members of the public to take their pictures when stopped.

Tshwane metro police department (TMPD) acting chief Basil Nkhwashu told officers earlier this month to allow the public to take photos of them or ask for their appointment letters. 

Tshwane MMC for community safety Grandi Theunissen told TimesLIVE the department was experiencing pushback from the union over the instructions.

“There is active resistance against measures being put in place to restore discipline, command and control, and ethics within TMPD. 

“I would have expected the unions to welcome the interventions, which are aimed at improving their members’ working conditions and reputation, and to constructively engage the city and the acting chief of police [Basil Nkhwashu] in this process.

“Unfortunately, some union representatives seem determined to create and enforce the perception that they and their members are quite happy with the status quo, to the detriment of the city and its residents,” he said. 

The union published a circular cautioning officers not to allow the public to take their pictures.

“Do not allow members of the public to take your pictures as this will compromise your safety. Police officers are murdered every day because their pictures are circulated to criminals,” the circular reads.

Speaking to TimesLIVE, Samwu community safety chairperson Ngoako Mathabatha said the instructions infringed on the rights of officers.

“Only [members of] the media are allowed to take pictures of officers while on duty. If we allow members of the public to take pictures of our members, then we are putting them at risk. Crime now is very high, we cannot allow anybody to take officers' pictures.

“We are not talking about corrupt officers, we are talking about good officers.” 

The union encouraged officers to always carry their appointment cards and show it to motorists when requested. 

Mathabatha said the union had no issue with the department getting body cameras in an initiative to curb corruption. He said the video footage from body cameras would be used by investigators, while the officers had no assurance what the public would use their images and videos for. 

Theunissen said measures taken by the department were a result of growing bribery complaints against the officers. More than 30 officers have been arrested in the past year for corruption. 

“The pictures will not be used for publicity, but for the protection of the public and the officers,” he said. 

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.