66 Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) officers have contested the City’s decision to terminate their contracts. The contract terminations were based on 58 officers failing their driving assessments and another eight failing to meet the requirements for carrying a firearm.
According to the Cape Argus, the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) is representing the officers.
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Introduced in 2020, LEAP officers are a provincial government initiative run in partnership with the City, deployed in townships and Cape Flats areas like Nyanga, Delft, Gugulethu, Kraaifontein, Hanover Park and Bishop Lavis.
Samwu criticised the City’s approach, arguing that termination should have been a last resort. The union pointed out inconsistencies in training and assessment standards and the impractical scheduling of tests, often with short notice and post-night shifts, as unfair practices leading to the mass failure of the officers.
Concerning the nature of the assessments, Samwu spokesperson Hlalanathi Gagayi said that while all officers possessed valid driver’s licences, discrepancies in the type of licences held and the vehicles used for assessment contributed to the failures.
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He said that some officers had Code 10 licences but were assessed on Code 8, and economic factors preventing personal car ownership were cited as additional challenges.
Furthermore, concerns were raised about the firearm assessments. A dismissed officer revealed that the test involved a different firearm than the one used in initial training.
Samwu underscored this mismatch, noting that training on an A5 shooting sheet did not align with the A4 size used in assessments.
‘What is of great concern is that firearm training is provided by the City. They trained these members to a particular standard, assessed them to different standards and failed them,’ the union said.
It further stated, ‘The City assessed these members for vehicle driving as well, many times on short notice for all these assessments, sometimes waking members from the night shift for the assessments, only for them to fail.’
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Picture: City of Cape Town / Facebook