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Mail & Guardian
police and prisons civil rights unionlatest news & developments
South African Communist Party general secretary Solly Mapaila

ANC and DA had secret talks on forming a coalition ahead of elections, SACP says

Solly Mapaila has accused ANC leaders of publicly lying about consulting the party’s alliance partners on the government of national unity

G4S is the world’s biggest private security company. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Another G4S guard in court over Thabo Bester’s prison break

Motenyane Masukela faces schedule one charges of assisting an inmate to escape

Xanda Moyo, a Zimbabwean, face charges in connection to the prison break of rapist and murderer Bester. Photo: Supplied

More staff at G4S’ Mangaung prison knew of Bester’s escape – Popcru

Police trade union president calls for an end to the public-private prison system, citing the foreign company is more concerned with profit than rehabilitation

On Thursday, correctional services commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale said the findings of an investigation report “clearly revealed” Thabo Bester was assisted in his escape from custody on 3 May. Photo: Supplied

Thabo Bester escape a fraction of the rot at G4S-run private jail

However, abuse and torture at the prison have improved, the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services says

Unhealthy state of affairs: Nehawu members protest outside Bheki Mlangeni Hospital in Soweto last week. Photo: Fani Mahuntsi/Gallo Images

Talks resume as public service strike turns ugly

Public service unions, the government return to the bargaining table as a second wave of strikes looms

South Africa is braced for a public sector strike, which, if all goes to plan, would be the largest in more than a decade. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

Public sector strike will come at a cost

Commentators have weighed in on the Transnet strike’s economic hit, but strike season isn’t over yet

Dondo Mogajane, director general of the South African National Treasury, Enoch Godongwana, South Africa’s finance minister, David Masondo, South Africa’s deputy finance minister, and Edward Kieswetter, commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (SARS), (left to right), make their way to the budget presentation in Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022. South Africa cut corporate taxes and set more ambitious targets for reducing debt, after a surge in commodity prices led to higher-than-expected tax income. (Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Government stares down public wage conundrum

Workers are in the throes of a cost of living crisis, which could force the government to fold on its hard line against more spending

Former Western Cape detective boss Jeremy Vearey. Photo: Deon Raath

Axed cop Jeremy Vearey’s dismissal was fair, bargaining council rules

Jeremy Vearey encouraged a ‘mini insurrection’ with his Facebook posts, arbitration hearing finds

Major General Jeremy Vearey. (Photo by Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

Dismissed cop Jeremy Vearey’s arbitration hearing nears its end

Vearey’s defence seeks advantage from suspension cloud hanging over police head Khehla Sitole

Major General Jeremy Vearey. (Photo by Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

Senior crime intelligence officers want R15mn from axed top cop Vearey

The arbitration hearing in which former cop Jeremy Vearey was challenging his dismissal concluded its proceedings on Monday 13 September

A silent vigil for dismissed SAPS General Jeremy Vearey outside St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town.  (Photo by David Harrison)

Vearey hearing adjourned over Covid-19 scare

The fired cop’s arbitration hearing was postponed to next month just as police put forward video material

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has condemned recent attacks on police stations, with the latest target being Tsineng in the Northern Cape that was robbed at gunpoint on 31 July.

Police union condemns robbery of Northern Cape police station, blames understaffing and scarce resources

Three men made off with shotguns, R5 rifles, pistols and ammunition after pouncing on the Tsineng police station

A province riddled with violent crime and gangsterism has a new sheriff after Police Minister Bheki Cele approved the appointment of Thembisile Patekile as police commissioner in the Western Cape.

New Western Cape police commissioner to sort out old problems

The province gets a permanent police commissioner to fight crime and violence during a time of instability in the police force

Western Cape head of detectives Major General Jeremy Vearey was dismissed following an “expeditious” procedure that found him guilty of bringing the South African Police Service into disrepute.

Popcru vows to support dismissed top cop Vearey

The police union said it would challenge the process that led to the axing of the Western Cape head of detectives

Popcru used its ninth congress to tackle the issue of police and justice officials staying on in their portfolios despite failing to serve the needs of police and correctional service workers.? (GCIS)

Cops take their leaders to task

Popcru used its ninth congress to focus on restoring the rights of police and correctional service workers

Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim.

Jim lays case against Popcru’s Matsemela after death threat

Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim says he laid a formal criminal case against Popcru’s Matsemela after he publicly threatened to kill him.

Numsa: Death threats and politically motivated resignations

Numsa says its general secretary, Irvin Jim, has received fresh death threats, while its president Cedric Gina’s resignation was polically motivated.

Fired Popcru official wants her post back

Police captain Ntombizakhe Mcaba, fired as the first vice-president of the Popcru has won her court battle for reinstatement.

Mass expulsions ahead of Popcru polls

Popcru members claim the expulsions is intended to prevent them from raising issues of corruption within the union.

Parliament calls for tighter security at hospitals

Security around hospitals must be tightened, Parliament has insisted, in the wake of the murder of a doctor by a patient at a hospital in Mpumalanga.