City of Joburg Public Safety needs urgent rescue from the clutches of a loudmouthed political novice.
15 August 2024
City of Joburg Public Safety needs urgent rescue from the clutches of a loudmouthed political novice.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) condemns the behaviour of MMC Dr. Mgcini Tshwaku’s reckless media statements in the wake of the death of EFF Councillor Mphahlele. We find it utterly disturbing that a member of the Executive responsible for Public Safety would go on an irresponsible and reckless rant to mobilize negative public sentiment towards JMPD officers who often pay with their lives while defending residents of the City of Johannesburg against criminals.
His suggestion that Councillor Mphahlele died because of the actions of our members without any credible evidence or being informed by an independent investigation report, is both malicious and irresponsible as it is calculated to undermine public confidence in the department.
To add insult to injury, he is captured in numerous video clips hurling insults towards our members in the presence of members of the public including members of his own political home. As a responsible Union organizing in a law enforcement environment, we find his conduct unfortunate and a disgrace to the Public Safety portfolio within the City of Joburg administration.
In his abusive tirade he instructs the Acting HOD to suspend all JMPD officers who were present during the incident at TRU Containers in Alexandra, without consideration to due process and applicable collective agreements. He is fully aware that IPID has taken over the investigation of events around the incident and any decisions on suspensions and disciplinary actions will arise from the IPID Report in terms of the IPID ACT, however he finds it necessary to spew unlawful instructions and instigate negative public sentiment against our members over the same incident being investigated.
The disgraceful MMC suffers from a special type of chronic cognitive dissonance, he purports to be leading a law enforcement entity, however his conduct demonstrates the opposite. He has optical challenges of a cognitive nature and must change his intellectual lenses if we are to believe the validity of his PHD as suggested by his title. He went to the same location which was a scene of crime and addressed his audiences, when he ought to have known that critical clues and evidence was still to be obtained. He has contaminated the crime scene for cheap political point scoring and this amounts to criminal conduct.
We, therefore, call on the Speaker of Council to urgently initiate disciplinary proceedings against MMC Tshwaku and call for his removal from the office of Public Safety as his presence serves to further deepen the tensions that arose because of Councillor Mphahlele’s unfortunate death and the reckless manner, in which he has handled this incident as an MMC. Instead of allowing due processes to unfold without undue influence, he has opted to unashamedly use this incident to elevate his public persona and to parrot his political master at the expense of our members.
Our members within JMPD wish to unequivocally declare that they will not comply with any directives that emanates from his office especially given the fact that he has already issued unlawful instructions for the suspension of our members and demands that all Operational Plans concerning land invasions and evictions must first be approved by his office. This demonstrates his flagrant disregard for the Rule of Law as police functions are legislated and this renders his instructions in that regard unlawful and legally unenforceable. He ought to know that as a politician, he has no role to play in the law enforcement operational space. This just goes to show how woefully inept he is when it comes to understanding his role as an MMC.
Our members reject these unlawful instructions given by Dr.Tshwaku with the contempt it deserves and call on the incoming Mayor to appoint a sober, level-headed and competent politician to lead Public Safety as he has demonstrated an acute failure to understand the basic functions and powers assigned to the office an MMC.We further warn him to refrain from demanding the suspension of our members as such suspension is unwarranted given that our members have already submitted statements to the relevant authority tasked with investigating such matters.
We, therefore, reiterate our call for his removal as MMC for Public Safety as he has destroyed the trust relationship necessary for a healthy relationship between the political and administrative branches of government.
AKAHAMBE! WORKERS HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF HIS SENSELESS RANTS!
Issued by SAMWU Petrus Mashishsi Region (Johannesburg)
Richard Moilwa
Deputy Regional Secretary
073 172 9459
Or
Lebogang Ndawo
Deputy Regional Chairperson
081 459 4221