Trade Union Cosatu wants to sue the City of Cape Town’s JP Smith and Transport and Public Works MEC Donald Grant for endangering the lives of law enforcement officers.
The union also accused Smith and Grant of racism, and called for traffic officials to be armed when on duty.
This after two female bloubaadjies were shot and injured on Tuesday while on patrol in Khayelitsha.
Cosatu’s Tony Ehrenreich says the trade union would lay charges against Grant and Smith for the “reckless endangerment of Traffic and Metro Police Officers’ lives”.
Ehrenreich claims that black officers are under-trained and under-resourced compared to their white counterparts whom he claims are better paid and work in safer environments.
“The fact that JP Smith and MEC Grant send officers out without the support or resources, just shows the regard he has for black police persons.
“Their conduct is the kind of sophisticated racism… where they smile at black people, but still treat them second class, in conditions at work and conditions in the townships,” he says.
But Smith has shot the claims down, saying all staff have the same training and resources.
“If that were the case he as a union boss should have laid charges a long time ago,” says Smith.
“If anybody should be charged it should be Tony for reckless stupidity and ignorance. He is a scheming little liar who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”