NEHAWU DISGUSTED BY THE SENSELESS MURDER OF ANDRIES TATANE

NEHAWU is deeply disgusted by the inhumane and senseless killing of an unarmed Free State protestor Andries Tatane and we call on the National Police Commissioner, General Bheki Cele to ensure that those responsible are charged with murder and locked up. We offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Andries Tatane. This reckless conduct by the police is nothing new and the unions have experienced it first hand and have been consistently calling for the Ministry of the Police to act against this deterioration of police discipline.

Police officers in this country have in the last couple of years adopted and perfected the apartheid tactics urged and cheered on by the irresponsible rhetoric from some senior managers of the police force. It is seriously disturbing that all levels of the police force are characterised by indiscipline, incompetence and recklessness towards the public they are meant to serve. This cowboy like approach is unfairly tainting even those disciplined and dedicated police officials who are diligently serving and protecting the public and also does nothing to solve the regrettable and appalling scourge of police murders.    

The union demands that all police officers who deal with protests be taught civil and disciplined ways of controlling and managing the protestors because we cannot afford to have a police force that is slaughtering unarmed protestors only 17 years into the new dispensation. The fight against apartheid was not a fight to replace apartheid barbarians and assassins with another breed of undisciplined gunslingers who are law unto themselves.

Statement issued by NEHAWU Secretariat Office, April 14 2011

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